


There were nine in the bed and the little one said

by lossit_bay



Series: Bang Chan's Clan [3]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Found Family, Humour, M/M, Magic, Urban Fantasy, itty bitty innie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-03
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 38
Words: 48,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22106035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lossit_bay/pseuds/lossit_bay
Summary: There are nine people and seven beds. What do you do?A. Buy a bunk bedB. ShareC. Eliminate people
Relationships: Bang Chan/Kim Woojin, Kim Seungmin/Yang Jeongin | I.N, Lee Felix/Seo Changbin
Series: Bang Chan's Clan [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1400593
Comments: 801
Kudos: 966





	1. Bunk Beds

**Author's Note:**

> this is going to be a fun little fic from Felix's POV

When Felix woke he could hear the quiet murmuring of people in the dining room across the hall. It was comforting to constantly have the reminder of people around him even when he was by himself. Seungmin’s bed opposite his was empty, sheets neatly folded back over. He expected that. He was a late riser himself and Seungmin was almost always gone early for school. Just now, however, summer break had started so Seungmin had no reason to be up.

Felix rolled over and checked his alarm clock. It was a wonderful device as long as he didn’t have to actually abide to its incessant spinning. 9.10AM. That explained why Seungmin was already gone. At this time about half the house would be dead to the world and half would be well into their day. 

Next door Hyunjin would no doubt be sound asleep since neither Jeongin or Seungmin had to drag his ass to school today. They would likely be already out and exploring the city. Felix would join them later in their holidays when the instinct to wake up at 6am had worn off them.

Felix got up with a stretch, ignoring the sweet voice in his head that said to curl back under the covers for another hour. Stumbling out of his room brought him face to face with a wall painted a calming mint colour. His and Seungmin’s bedroom was painted a darker green, closer to the muted light from through a canopy, to make them feel more at home. It was a nice touch from Chan, Felix didn’t have the heart to tell him that no paint could hide the fact they were in a geometric brick building buzzing with electricity. He could tune of the electricity now and the cars and planes didn’t make him flinch but they still got the quietest bedroom, facing the back ‘garden’.

Felix slid along the wall until he hid the doorway to the dining room. There had been a door there once. There had been a door there last week. Perhaps there would be a door there in the future. Currently there was nothing but air. Chan and Woojin looked up as he fell into the room and crawled into a chair.

“You alright there, Lixie?” Chan asked with a smile.

“I’m great,” Felix replied. He was getting better at bending the truth. “What are Hyungs doing?”

“Trying to create a solution to the ‘nine people, seven beds’ problem,” Woojin said. They had notes scribbled on paper in front of them and a laptop whirring away at one side. Woojin leaned over to Felix conspiratorially. “It’s not going well,” he whispered.

“But sharing beds is good?” Felix said. He loved getting to cuddle with someone and only the noise of the bathroom next to Jisung and Changbin’s room stopped him being in one of their beds every night. Seungmin unfortunately did not enjoy sleeping next to someone. Ah, he saw the problem now.

“We’re going to have to get a bunk bed,” Chan told Woojin, scoring though his latest design.

“For us?” Woojin asked cheekily. “Channie, I thought you liked cuddles?”

Chan stuck his tongue out and gave Woojin a push. “For some of the kids, obviously.”

Felix loved to watch them together even though Changbin told him that watching people was ‘creepy’. Woojin and Chan didn’t normally mind though and they’d answer most of his culture difference questions. Minho was the best for answering questions but he could also (for now) lie with a completely straight face and he’d tricked Felix on more than one occasion. When Seungmin broke his curse Felix was going to get him back.

“Which kids?” Woojin asked.

Chan dropped his head to the table with a thud. “I don’t know,” he whined before perking up again. “Lixie!” Chan smiled winningly. “How would you like a bunk bed?”

“What’s a bunk bed?” Felix asked. From the sound of it it was a bed that prevented cuddles and Felix did not want that.

“Like this.” Chan spun the laptop around to face him and showed Felix a very strange ladder. “You could sleep up here. Wouldn’t that be cool?”

Sleeping up a tree was fun but that was a dead tree, it wouldn’t rock him in the wind. “No,” Felix decided.

“Damn it,” Chan said. “Who else is there?”

Woojin massaged Chan’s head with his fingers, making Chan’s curls tangle even more. “Nobody is going to want the top bunk baby. You need a new plan.”

“Changbinnie?” Chan called through to the kitchen.

“No, I’m not taking a top bunk,” Changbin said and walked into the room with a slice of toast in his mouth and a mug in his hand. His eyes were dull from a lack of sleep but they brightened when he noticed Felix frowning at him. He set his mug in front of Felix and went back into the kitchen to make another.

Felix wrapped his hands around the mug and inhaled the smell of coffee. Coffee was another benefit of the human world. It wasn’t quite as good as sava tea but it was pretty close. Especially the way Changbin made it, with more sugar than Chan thought was reasonable. Woojin said it was fine as long as they only had a few cups per day and Felix could see why. Coffee was great and it would be terrible if they ran out.

Changbin returned a minute later with a new mug and an apple. Changbin wasn’t a big fan of fruit in its raw form so Felix knew the apple was for him. The fruit here was watery and bland but it was better than toast which appeared to be the other option today. 

“Thank you, Binnie-hyung,” Felix said, taking the apple from him.

“You’re welcome, Lixie,” Changbin gave him a small smile and swapped their mugs before sitting next to Felix. “This one has honey,” Changbin explained as Felix whined when the mug was taken from him. 

Felix took the alternative offered mug greedily. Honey was much better than plain cane sugar. “You’re the best, Binnie-hyung.” At that moment it was the complete truth.

Felix looked up from his steaming mug to see Woojin looking at them with a knowing look on his face. Felix stuck his tongue out at him. That was a fun reply he’d picked up, mostly from Chan. Woojin did it back, crossing his eyes to make Felix giggle.


	2. Not a Rock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Changlix v. Woochan who will win??

When Hyunjin and Jisung both finally got up they too vetoed the top bunk. Jisung took one judgmental look at Chan’s suggestion and turned around to go back to bed and Hyunjin just laughed and pulled the ‘I used to sleep in the sewers, I don’t deserve this’ card as he hurried out the door to meet friends from school.

Minho got home from his morning classes at the dance studio just before lunch and Chan gave a half-hearted attempt to sell his idea one last time.

“We should fight for the beds,” Minho suggested, wiping sweat from his neck with the cuff of his sleeve. “Whoever loses gets eliminated.”

“We’re not murdering Changbinnie,” Woojin said blandly without looking up from his work. “He’s our main source of income.”

“Ya!” Changbin yelled in protest. He threw a feather quill in Woojin’s direction and it fluttered harmlessly to the ground. “Why do you think I’d be the one to die?”

“Because none of us are rocks,” Woojin replied. “People will actually fight back if you stab them with a chisel.”

“I’d protect you, Binnie-hyung,” Felix placated Changbin, pausing in his shelf restocking to shoot him a full smile. Changbinnie was cute when he was angry which was probably why everyone picked on him so much.

“What are you going to do?” Minho asked Felix. “Sunshine smile me to death?” He scoffed in derision as he headed for the stairs.

Felix didn’t know why everyone mistook him as cute and harmless. Ok, Korean wasn’t his first language and it often made him come across as a bit of an idiot but he was approved to cross the skin _before_ Seungmin was. He could look after himself and he could _prove it._

“Minho-hyung!” Felix waited until Minho turned back around before he started his demonstration. He settled back into a familiar stance for a fraction of a second before snapping his foot up. He built momentum with a spin and kicked again, both feet coming off the ground this time. With his wings still folded at his back the next move was impossible without a very hard landing but it had been enough to startle Minho.

“Where did that come from?!” Minho asked, stepping back into the room properly. “It’s like you’re a black belt in karate or something.”

“It’s closer to taekwondo,” Changbin said proudly. “Fae martial arts.”

“Uh huh,” Minho said absently, looking at Felix in a new light. “Maybe we shouldn’t eliminate people.”

“What a wise decision,” Woojin said dryly.

***

Felix could tell the bed problem was stressing Chan even if the vampire wasn’t admitting it out loud. Chan was always trying to accommodate everyone but in this case there was no way everyone could get their ideal living situation. The house didn’t have as much space as Chan’s heart.

Felix abandoned the shelf restocking to Changbin and skipped around the table to dig his thumbs into the muscles in Chan’s neck. It took longer than it should have for the muscles to relax even a fraction and Felix worked harder to relieve his stress.

Chan moaned and tipped his head forward to give Felix better access. “You have magic hands Lixie.”

“You’re getting me confused with Sungie,” Felix teased. “My hands are normal.” He dug his thumb into a particularly tight knot on the right side of Chan’s neck. “What are the options that aren’t a bung bed?”

“Bunk bed,” Chan corrected. Felix learnt faster when he was immediately corrected. Seungmin, on the other hand, had thrown a shoe at Jeongin when he had tried to help him.

“Bunk bed,” Felix repeated carefully.

“Well, really we only need one more bed-” Chan started saying.

“No,” Woojin cut him off. “I’ve had enough of banging my shoulder on the wall every time I turn over. We’re getting a bigger bed too.”

“There’s no space for a bigger bed, Jinnie,” Chan protested. “I can just sleep during the day.”

“Chan.” All traces of joking were gone from Woojin’s voice. “Even if you’re not sleeping you need somewhere to rest. Please.”

 _“Fine,”_ Chan huffed, pushing his notes away from him. It was clearly not fine. “You do it then.”

It was rare for Chan and Woojin to fight and even rarer for them to do it in public. It put Felix on edge and he glanced up at Changbin, the only other boy in the room. Changbin pulled a face, his eyes wide. He could feel the tension too. Felix cocked his head to where Chan’s scribbles were laid out on the table. _Do something_ he urged the dwarf with his mind. Changbin’s eyes widened even further and he shook his head minutely. Felix glared and Changbin hesitantly approached the table. 

“You know the obvious solution is for you two to move into the back room downstairs and give Minho-hyung your current room,” Changbin told the sulking duo. “There’s no way to rearrange upstairs to fit two more people unless I cut into the living room.”

Neither Chan nor Woojin seemed happy with this suggestion.

“That’s the store room,” Woojin pointed out. There had originally been two store rooms before the one facing the garden had been converted into the ‘Music Room’. Now one room held more boxes than they could ever hope to organise into that space.

“My workshop is too big,” Changbin countered. “If I organise it better there’s plenty of space for everything and we can actually access the boxes.”

Woojin narrowed his eyes as he mentally rearranged their inventory into the longer space. One parent down, one to go.

While Woojin tended to think with his head first, Chan thought with his heart. “But we’ll be too far away.”

Felix rolled his eyes and squeezed Chan’s shoulders tightly, resisting the urge to shake some sense into him. “We could always reopen the hole in the kitchen floor for you? Give you fast access to upstairs with your kangaroo legs.”

“That took me weeks to fix- no. We’re not doing that,” Changbin said firmly just in case Felix wasn’t joking. “And _really_ Hyung, it’s not like you’re banished. We’ll literally only be sleeping while you’re downstairs. Nothing bad will happen.”

“Doubt,” Woojin muttered.

“Nothing _worse_ will happen if you sleep downstairs,” Changbin corrected.

Chan still seemed unconvinced. It was time to pull out the big guns. 

“And if you and Woojinnie-hyung are alone downstairs you can do whatever you want without us hearing,” Felix added. Chan’s shoulders tensed as he head whipped around to lock eyes with Woojin. 

_One-shot kill,_ Felix thought smugly. 

Humans were very particular about what they would and wouldn’t do in public. Felix had a hard time at first remembering what was allowed where but it seemed that touch was a form of currency and the more people that witnessed or experienced the touch the less valuable it was. Chan and Woojin would kiss upstairs but not downstairs yet would hold hands everywhere and with other people. And Felix knew from the noises that they did more in their bedroom when they thought nobody else was upstairs.

The hyungs were staring at each other, neither moving an inch until Woojin’s hand slowly reached out to slide up Chan’s thigh.

“Gogogo!” Changbin squeaked, grabbing Felix’s hand and dragging him into his workshop. “Quick!”

Felix stumbled into Changbin’s arms as the dwarf stopped just outside the shop floor. Changbin held him tight and peeked around the curtain, his heart beating wildly under Felix’s hand. “THIS IS A PROFESSIONAL ESTABLISHMENT!” Changbin screeched, barely holding back his giggles.

By Woojin’s own rules at least one of them had to stay on the shop floor as long as the shop was open so they were trapped by public decency unless Chan left the shop to grab one of the kids. Felix knew he wouldn’t do it no matter how much he might like to drag Woojin off to the back room so they could stand here and tease the parents as much as they liked without repercussions. At least for now.

“I WILL PROFESSIONALLY RIP OFF YOUR ARMS AND FEED THEM TO MY BOYFRIEND!” Chan yelled back, leaving his seat to step away from Woojin and finish the re-shelving Changbin and Felix had left. 

“I WILL EAT YOU WITHOUT SALT, SEO CHANGBIN!” Woojin added. “LEE FELIX, YOU CAN WATCH!”

“I love you too, Hyungie!!” Felix called sweetly and pulled Changbin back behind the curtain, content with his mischief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if anyone knows an idiot-proof method for uploading my own image to this fic so i can add a floor plan please let me know.
> 
> I tried to follow AO3s instructions but... they were not idiot-proof


	3. Hidden Treasure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really just filler paragraphs I guess because I am incapable of ignoring woochan to continue a plot

“Whaat ya doin’” Jisung asked sleepily, draping himself over Felix’s back. 

“Hiding Binnie-hyung’s treasure,” Felix replied, intentionally loud enough for Changbin to hear. Changbin glanced over at them with a smile but returned his focus to his works in progress.

“Ooh, can I steal?” Jisung asked, reaching over Felix for a chunky silver band. Changbin had been experimenting with different techniques and this ring wasn’t perfectly circular. Instead it cut upwards at a straight diagonal to form a point that would lie flush to the skin. “Bin, can I steal?” Jisung asked, holding up the ring for Changbin to see.

“Yeah, go ahead,” Changbin said. “I can’t resize that one much so just find what finger it fits.”

Jisung eagerly tested it out, having to remove many of his other rings to check the fit on different fingers. “Binnie!” he called excitedly, holding up his hand. His other rings lay discarded around him in typical Jisung fashion.

“Other way around, you toaster,” Changbin said.

“Oh!” Jisung took off the ring and put it on so the triangular point was no longer stabbing into his knuckle. “That’s way better.”

“Almost like I designed it that way,” Changbin muttered.

“The Dads are doing questionable things in the shop front so don’t go out there unless you’ve learnt how to wipe your own memories in the last 24 hours,” Changbin warned Jisung as the witch wandered towards the curtain.

“I think that spell is called 'soju',” Felix joked.

Jisung peered around the curtain. “We’ve got customers- they’re behaving,” He shot them a winning smile and a salute before sweeping around the curtain and into the shop with a flourish.

“Should we tell him he’s not wearing any shoes?” Changbin asked.

“Nobody looks at your feet when you’ve got hair like Sungie,” Felix pointed out. Especially not when the witch forgot to keep a damper on his magic and the bright blue strands were sticking out in every direction from the static.

Between them Felix and Changbin managed to rearrange Changbin’s workshop to fit everything into the space closest to the back of the building, clearing a large section next to the shop front for the stuff from the store room. The only problem was that Changbin had been keeping his work in piles along the workbench. Neat piles, to be fair, but piles nonetheless and now he had a large collection of miscellaneous items with nowhere to put them.

“Wow Binnie,” Chan said, impressed. He ran a hand along the worktop, admiring the grain of the wood they hadn’t seen in years. “If I’d known there was so much space I would have dumped stuff through here earlier.”

“That’s exactly the reason I didn’t let you know,” Changbin retorted. “But since I keep finding you asleep at the dining table in the middle of the night it’s probably time I give up some of my space for the cause.”

“Don’t tell Woojin,” Chan said in a rush, his head whipping around to check the werewolf wasn’t behind him. 

“Why? You think he’ll be mad that you keep giving up your bed for him?” Changbin said with sickeningly fake concern.

“Not so _loud_ ,” Chan hissed. He let out a sigh as the curtain remained closed and rubbed at the back of his neck, suddenly looking far more tired than he normally let on. “Please. I don’t want to fight again.” 

“Fine,” Changbin relented. “I expect you to stop sleeping at the table when we get you a new bed though.”

“I’ll try,” Chan sounded suitably contrite. 

Felix knew that sleep was something Chan had never been very good at, since long before Felix joined the family. Chan worked through the night and then through the day, falling unconscious more than he fell asleep. Changbin didn’t get much more sleep than Chan did but at least he’d try and got some form of rest, lying in bed with his eyes shut while Felix curled up next to him. 

Until Woojin came into their lives Chan’s sleep schedule had been non-existent and the kids had unanimously decided to just pick up the slack and let Chan continue sleeping whenever he managed it. Now, every few days Chan would reach such a state of exhaustion that Woojin could bully him into sleeping through the morning. Felix wasn’t sure exactly _what_ it was Woojin did to make Chan sleep but he had a feeling he was better off not knowing. 

If Changbin was right then Chan was deliberately cutting back on sleep again, and without Woojin’s knowledge. Hyung would not be happy if he found out.

“And why are _you_ up in the middle of the night, Binnie-hyung?” Felix asked.

“It’s nothing, Lixie,” Changbin said quickly. “I was just getting a drink.”

_Did he think Felix was an idiot? What kind of a fae would he be if he couldn’t recognise a half-truth._

“Uh-huh,” Felix said, letting his disbelief show clearly.

“Oooh, karma’s a bitch!” Chan sang happily.

“Most people call me Minho,” Minho’s voice rang down from upstairs. Seconds later he was smirking at the bottom of the stairs, incredibly pleased with himself. “If anyone hasn’t had lunch yet there’s some upstairs. I can mind the shop.”

“You’re the best, Min,” Chan grinned and sped off upstairs, ghosting a kiss to Minho’s cheek as he went if Minho’s blush was anything to go by.

“We’re moving the Hyungs to the store room,” Changbin explained when Minho frowned at the dramatic change to the workshop since he had gone upstairs. “You’ll get their old room.”

Minho’s eyes lit up. “I get a bed to myself! I get a _room_ to myself!”

“In theory,” Felix said, patting his arm. “In theory.”


	4. You can get everything online

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bad children say bad things

It had started raining heavily while they were busy tidying the workshop so they shut the shop for lunch since it was unlikely that anybody would be out in that weather. Hyunjin was due home from the cafe he went to soon but despite loving swimming he had a deep set hatred of rain and wouldn’t go out in it, even with an umbrella. 

Felix hoped the rain would stop soon for his sake. If Hyunjin had started his return journey then he could be stuck in the subway station for a long time and he’d get hungry and bored quickly. Felix considered running down the street to check but there were patches of blue in the sky and if Hyunjin was at the station he shouldn’t have to wait long for a break in the downpour. If it was still raining after lunch, Felix would take some leftovers and go check.

At lunch the tension between Chan and Woojin was back. It was barely noticeable as they both kept smiling and acting like nothing was wrong but something about the way they interacted was off. Felix could tell that Jisung had picked up on it too. Unfortunately, when Felix tried to convey his worry to the witch Minho picked up on it too, raising one eyebrow, and when Felix dragged Jisung out of the room with a poorly-thought out excuse Minho followed.

“What are you up to?” Minho asked as soon as the door shut. They were in Jisung and Changbin’s bedroom, the furthest from the dining room.

“We’re not ‘up’ to anything,” Felix said exasperatedly. “There’s something wrong with Channie-hyung and Woojinnie-hyung.”

Minho leant back against the door and crossed his arms. “Yeah. They need to fuck.”

 _“Minho-hyung,”_ Jisung said, scandalised.

“And sleep,” Minho continued. “But I think they should start with fucking.” 

Jisung looked slightly traumatised but Felix was glad it was at least a problem with an easy solution. 

“Ok, where do we get a bed?” Felix said.

“Online.” Minho shrugged. “You can get everything online.”

Changbin found them plotting ten minutes later.

“Chan-hyung wants to move stuff from the store room so one of you needs to be on the shop with me,” he announced.

“What’s Woojinnie-hyung doing?” Minho asked, artfully dodging the request for help.

“Hyung, please,” Changbin whined. “It’s really awkward right now. Just come help.”

“So you’ve noticed it too!” Jisung said.

“Yes,” Changbin said exasperatedly. “So quit being difficult and help me.” Jisung ignored the request as Minho had so Changbin turned his pout on and faced Felix. “Lixie? Come help?”

“I would, Hyung,” Felix said, already feeling bad for letting Changbin down. “But we have to order a bed and there’s a lot of reviews to read through.”

Changbin stared, the tip of his tongue darting out to wet his lips as he tried to find the reasoning in Felix’s excuse. “And why do you have to order a bed so urgently?” he asked eventually.

“So Woojinnie-hyung and Channie-hyung can fuck and stop being weird.”

Changbin’s eyes flashed with surprised and he turned to Minho, pointing an accusatory finger. “This is your doing.”

Minho raised his hands in surrender but his cheshire grin gave him away. “You humans are such prudes. It’s a natural need.”

“I’m a dwarf,” Changbin retorted. His cheeks were gradually reddening the longer the conversation drew on.

Minho laughed. “I hear they’re worse. Is that so Binnie-binnie?” He reached out and squished Changbin’s cheeks. “Do you not like talking about _sex?_ Have you had your first kiss or was holding hands too intimate for you?”

Changbin pushed him away. “I’ve kissed someone,” he grumbled.

That only added fuel to Minho’s fire. _“Oh?_ Was it on their hand? Their cheek?” He gasped dramatically. “Not the _lips?!”_

 _The cheek,_ Felix thought absently, feeling like he was floating above them, a spectator on his life. The disparity between Changbin’s words and his actions was starting to make more sense but he didn’t have time to dwell on that now or Jisung’s keen eyes would catch him and he’d never hear the end of it.

Jisung’s attention was thankfully elsewhere as he held back Changbin from hitting Minho. “I’ll come down to the shop,” Jisung was saying. “Ok? And you can finish for the day once one of the others is back. Yeah?”

Changbin had already deflated. He was the least aggressive of the whole family despite his strength and Minho had embarrassed him more than he had angered him. Minho knew this and didn’t take Changbin’s attack as a threat.

“If you want me to cuddle with you tonight Binnie just ask!” Minho called after him as Jisung pulled Changbin from the room.

“You’re the worst,” Felix told Minho fondly once they were gone.

“You’ll learn one day, young Padawan,” Minho replied, stretching and getting up from the bed.

“Huh?” Felix asked. Were there still more formal titles he had to learn? After nearly two years of living here he thought he’d learnt almost everything by now.

“Add _Star Wars_ to your list of movies to watch,” Minho said. “It’s about space. And bad parenting.”

 _Oh, it’s from a movie._ Maybe he could get Changbin-hyung to watch it with him. As a cultural learning experience. Obviously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what im a doing
> 
> (also ive not seen star wars so idk)


	5. One Star Out of Five

Felix ended up going down to the shop with Changbin and Jisung, though he wasn’t helpful in the slightest. If anything, he reduced the overall workflow by distracting Jisung. Changbin pretended that he wasn’t involved but he had access to the 3RACHA bank account while Jisung and Felix didn’t so he couldn’t really claim that their budget figures came from anyone but him.

“There’s just too many,” Felix sighed, flicking the keypad of his laptop to watch hundreds of mattresses fly by on yet another site.

“Listen to this:” Jisung said. “ _‘It’s like rolling uphill to get from one side of the mattress to the other.’_ And then the review below that ‘ _The best thing I’ve ever slept on. Cured my back pain and my insomnia.’”_

“Ooh, sign me up for that one,” Changbin called over. “A work out and a good night’s sleep.”

Jisung snorted. “I found another one- ‘ _Too soft. I nearly died.’_ One star out of five.”

“I’m still not seeing a negative,” Changbin said.

They fell quiet as Chan wandered past carrying a load of boxes, humming to himself. Both he and Woojin were working on the same task of clearing the store room and were being terrifyingly professional with each other. Felix hadn’t heard Chan giggle once and instead of playing music from speakers like they would normally, each was listening to their own playlist through earphones as they worked side-by-side. It was disturbing.

“We need Innie,” Jisung whined. “He’s the best at internet shopping.”

Felix made a sound of agreement. His confidence was fading and he too wanted Jeongin just to come sweeping through the door and solve all their problems. 

His heart tightened suddenly as his brain made a connection unprompted. “ _Hyunjin!”_

“No, Hyunjinnie is shit at internet shopping,” Jisung said with a frown.

“Language!” Woojin called through from the store room. That man had a sixth sense for profanity.

“No, not shopping. _I forgot Hyunjin,”_ Felix said. “It’s raining. He’ll have been stuck in the subway for ages.”

“Ah,” Jisung said quietly. He looked out the window to the drizzle that showed no sign of stopping. “I’ll phone him.”

Hyunjin’s phone wasn’t available but just before they left for the station- a fifteen minute walk away- Changbin had the smart idea to call Seungmin. Seungmin answered.

“They’ve got him,” Changbin said when he hung up. “Seungminnie was buying an umbrella and Innie stayed with Hyunjin. Minnie seems to think they can get Jinnie to go out in the rain.”

Jisung shrugged. “They’ve probably had to do it for school. Nothing gets between Seungminnie and perfect attendance."

It was a tense twenty minutes waiting for the others to arrive. Even Woojin picked up on it the next he walked past with more boxes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, stopping and putting the boxes down on the table. The top one slid off the pile but his ignored it in favour of patting down Jisung’s static hair. 

“Hyunjinnie’s out in the rain,” Changbin informed him. “Minnie and Innie are bringing him home.”

Woojin turned to look out the window. “Poor baby,” he murmured to himself. “At least it’s not too heavy today. Do you know when they’ll be back?”

“Five minutes?” Felix said. “We don’t know if they’ve had to stop.” No sooner had he said that then three familiar figures came hurrying down the street. The door slammed and Hyunjin was across the room and in Woojin’s arms in seconds.

“You’re ok, Jinnie. You’re ok.” Woojin comforted him as a telltale ripping drowned out Hyunjin’s laboured gasped. “You’re home. Big strong house.”

“Good thing we bought him new jeans,” Jeongin sighed, shaking his head like a dog.

Seungmin hummed as he set the umbrellas out to dry. Both of them are remarkably calm and it makes Felix wonder how many meltdowns there had been they had deemed not noteworthy enough to share.

Seungmin crossed the room to where Hyunjin is still clinging to Woojin, his shoes discarded on the floor and his tentacles dangling as Woojin held him tight. Seungmin moved to behind Woojin gently stroked Hyunjin’s cheek.

“Hyunjinnie,” he said firmly. Hyunjin lifted his head to look Seungmin in the eyes. “Bring your legs back please.” It wasn’t framed as a question and Felix watched in amazement as Hyunjin took a shuddering breath and shifted back, letting go of Woojin to stand on his feet again. It was the fastest recovery Felix had ever seen from him.

Seungmin smiled. “Good job, Jinnie, he whispered. “Do you want a hug?” A stupid question, really. It was like asking if Woojinnie-hyung wanted chicken. 

Hyunjin opened his arms and Seungmin hugged him tight. Hyunjin gave him a few distracted pats on the back and then stepped back.

“I’m gonna go change,” Hyunjin told the room and hurried to the back of the shop.

“Is he ok?” Jisung asked, looking worriedly in the direction the mer boy had left.

“He’s fine,” Jeongin said, taking a seat on Felix’s lap and pulling the fae boy’s arms around him. “The panicking just tired him out.” Felix’s heart clenched at the thought. If only he’d remembered sooner Hyunjin wouldn’t have been alone for so long.

“I’m going to go be a cuddle buddy in a minute,” Seungmin said, sorting through the shopping bags he’s abandoned. He threw a baseball cap at Jisung. “For the one I broke.”

“Sweet!” Jisung crowed, turning the red cap in his hands as he marveled it.

“Is that… a hazard symbol?” Woojin asked as Jisung proudly jammed the hat on his head.

“It’s only fair to warn people,” Seungmin replied.

Felix had been watching the exchange and would normally have laughed at Jisung’s expense but something still didn’t feel right in his gut.

“Seungminnie?” he said shyly, thankful when not everyone heard his call. He switched to Fae just to be safe. _“Do you mind if I go be Jinnie’s cuddle buddy?”_

 _“Of course not, Lixie,”_ Seungmin replied. _“You’re better at cuddles than I am anyway.”_

 _“That’s not-”_ Felix didn’t want Seungmin to think badly of himself but now was not the time to go into Seungmin’s self-confidence issues. _“I just mean that Hyunjinnie is your-”_

Seungmin raised one eyebrow, daring him to finish the sentence.

Hyunjin was Seungmin’s something for sure but it was hard to explain. There was a word for it in their native language. A word for when someone caught your attention, a mix between ‘crush’ and ‘prey’ that was best translated as ‘interest’. The fae were fickle with their love, which was fine when the person of ‘interest’ was another fae. Felix’s parents weren’t together anymore and Seungmin’s had never been more than a one-night stand. t wasn’t something to get emotional over, love wasn’t expected to last.

But here it was different. Felix had been slow to pick up on that, he’d admit it, but watching enough dramas and then seeing Chan and Woojin’s relationship develop in real time had made him realise that here permanence and monogamy were the goal. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that and if anything Seungmin was struggling more than he was.

“ _Jinnie’s my what, Felix?”_ Seungmin pressed when Felix went silent.

 _“You know what I mean,”_ Felix whined. _“I was trying to be nice. Do you really want to talk about this now.”_ He bounced Jeongin on his knee and Jeongin frowned up at him, hating being left out of what was clearly interesting gossip given the names being thrown about.

Seungmin looked down at Jeongin and Felix’s arms clasped around his waist, worrying his lip. _“No. I don’t want to talk about it.”_ Seungmin admitted.

 _“That’s what I thought,”_ Felix said smugly and tapped Jeongin to get him to stand up. “ _I’ll be going to get my cuddles now.”_

 _“Fine,”_ Seungmin grumbled, stealing Felix’s seat and capturing Jeongin before the young boy could escape.

Felix saw Jeongin turn around as best he could and butt their heads together. “What’s up with you?” he whispered to Seungmin. 

Felix lingered to hear Seungmin’s reply under the pretense of gathering their bags to take upstairs with him. Seungmin only grunted, a sign he wanted to brush off the question but was too moody to avoid a lie. 

“What did that bad pixie tell you?” Jeongin asked, his voice pitch exaggerated as if he was taking to a baby. “Do I need to bite him? I can turn into a fox and bite him.”

A smile twitched at the corner of Seungmin’s mouth. “I’ll bite you first,” he said and lunged at Jeongin’s neck.

“Channie! You’re children are practicing cannibalism again!” Woojin called as Felix snuck off to the stairs.

“When the sun is up they’re your children!” Chan yelled back from the store room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I accidentally put seungjin in this story.. whoops?
> 
> do I have to put that in the tags now?
> 
> Also reader kudos if you can guess what's really going on


	6. The BFG

“Hi Jinnie,” Felix whispered as he crept around the door. Hyunjin had music playing loudly from his speakers and he lay curled towards the wall, tracing imperfections in the paint. “Can I come cuddle.”

Hyunjin nodded and Felix wasted no time pulling aside the covers and slotting himself against Hyunjin’s back. Hyunjin’s breathes were almost imperceivably shaky as he exhaled and Felix wriggled closer, burrowing his face between Hyunjin’s shoulder blades.

“I’m sorry I didn’t remember to come get you sooner,” Felix said. He hadn’t promised too but he still felt guilty.

“It’s fine,” Hyunjin said, patting Felix’s hand where it lay over his chest. “I should have just gone out. The rain wasn’t even that bad and I was stupid to panic.”

“No, you have every right to panic when you have TPSG,” Felix said. That didn’t sound right. “TGFP? PGSB? TBFG?”

“PTSD,” Hyunjin giggled. “T’ BFG is the Big Friendly Giant.”

“You know a giant?” Felix asked excitedly. He’d always wanted to meet a giant.

For some reason that sent Hyunjin into a fit of giggles so strong he had to sit up to catch his breath. “Oh Lixie, never change,” Hyunjin sighed and ruffled Felix’s hair. 

Felix narrowed his eyes. He’d clearly made a mistake again. “Stop thinking I’m cute when I say dumb stuff,” he said as threatingly as he could.

“Can’t.” Hyunjin smiled down at him but relented somewhat as Felix’s glare didn’t lessen. “The BFG is a children’s book,” he explained. “It’s about a giant who’s bullied by the other giants and catches dreams and he takes a little orphan girl on an adventure and they meet the Queen of England. Channie-Hyung used to read it to me.”

“That sounds like a good story. I want Channie-hyung to read it to me,” Felix pouted. Why did so much fun stuff have to happen _before_ he arrived.

Hyunjin flicked Felix’s jutting lower lip so his pout wobbled and Felix hastily sucked it back into his mouth.

“I think I’ve still got the book in my room somewhere,” Hyunjin said. “Hyung seems pretty stressed right now but I could read it to you? Or Sungie- he’s good at stories.”

“That would be nice,” Felix agreed. Lying on his back put pressure on his wings so he also sat up. He wanted to stretch them out properly like he hadn’t in a few days but he ignored the itch for now. There wasn’t really space unless he opened them in the hall. “And we think we have a solution to the Channie-hyung problem. Or the Dads problem really. Minho-hyung says they need to fuck.”

“So, what?” Hyunjin asked. “We lock them in their room and play sexy music through Channie-hyungs speakers?”

Felix thought it over. “That... may be tonight’s plan. But long term we were thinking: move them to the store room so they can actually have a double bed and no sleeping children through the walls.”

 _“Yes,_ ” Hyunjin agreed emphatically. “That. Let’s do that.”

“Already on it,” Felix assured him. “We just need the bed.”

It took the six of them them the rest of the afternoon to come to the conclusion that they had no choice but to test the mattresses before buying them. (Minho abstained, claimed that ‘Team Dad’ were not classy enough to know good quality and that ‘they’ll have a good time regardless of the mattress remembering them or not.’)

By the time they had made this plan and scoped out potential furniture stores it was time for dinner.

“So are we doing Plan B tonight?” Changbin asked hurriedly after Woojin called (howled) for them to come upstairs to eat.

“What’s Plan B?” Jisung asked, despite them having _just_ talked about the plan and the back-up plan and everyone's roles in said back-up plan.

Seungmin let out a few choice Fae insults that Jisung thankfully did not know the meaning of yet. Jeongin’s eyes widened at the profanity though so clearly he had been educated.

“The plan to lock them in their room tonight,” Hyunjin said quickly before Seungmin could go feral. He held the fae boy by the back of his collar just in case.

“If it’s happening before Plan A then it can’t be Plan B,” Jisung pointed out.

“Boys!” Woojin yelled and Felix flinched.

“COMING!” Jeongin yelled back though nobody moved.

“It would have to be Plan Negative A,” Jisung continued. “Or Plan Zero.”

“It’s about to be Plan Everybody’s Grounded,” Chan said with a warning tone, appearing behind them from nowhere.

Felix was not ashamed to say he screamed. He was in fact very proud to say he wasn’t the only one.

“How long-” Jisung started but he was cut off by Changbin dragging him to the stairs.  
“Will you learn to shut up!” Changbin whispered harshly.

Jeongin lead them in a bow as they sheepishly entered the dining room in rare bout of humility. Jeongin was then sacrificed as the child to sit closest to Woojin but he was Woojin’s favourite so that was fair. Felix ended up at the opposite end, next to Chan and he was so nervous he couldn’t remember what a single bite of his food tasted like. 

The knowledge of their dumb plan festered in his brain and now he was centimetres away from a angry predator his mind had finally decided to reach the _consequences_ part of the plan. It was not looking good. Chan was going to kill them and then they’d all be freaking vampires and then Woojin would eat them. 

There’d probably never been a pixie-vampire before. A flying vampire would probably be pretty fucking cool but unfortunately they would never find out because Woojin would eat him before he even left the ground. It was such a terribly dumb plan. 

They were still going to do it though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On an alignment chart they are all chaotic dumb


	7. Plan C

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brace for impact

“So, Woojinnie-hyung,” Hyunjin asked casually from his safe position at the other end of the table. “How’s the stock relocation going?”

Woojin politely waited until he’d swallowed his food before answering. “We’re nearly done.” For being a recently domesticated werewolf he was by far the one with the best table manners. “Though some stuff had been in there so long it had to be thrown out.”

There was an edge to his tone that suggested someone was in trouble. It could very well be Felix since he was in charge of collecting rarer items from or via the Fae Realm. He was good at collecting the items but less good at keeping track of where they went once they got to the shop. Judging Woojin’s mood, Felix decided he valued his existence enough not to claim blame for that one right now. It was probably for the best considering what he was going to do after dinner.

Hyunjin continued as if nothing was wrong. “Ah, that’s good. There will be space then. We were going to go test beds for you tomorrow. Well, the others are. I’ll only go if it’s not raining.”

“ _Test beds?”_ Chan asked, so confused by this statement that he seemed to forget that he was mad at them for not coming up to dinner on time and/or planning a mutiny. Confusion was good. Confusion would work in their favour.

“Yeah,” Jisung said, pushing the rice in his mouth into his cheeks to speak. “We googled double beds but there were, like, _a lot_ and the reviews were _no help_ so we have to go and test them.”

Woojin blinked slowly. “You mean ‘jump around a furniture store’, don’t you?”

“No?” Changbin said slowly and not confidently at all.

 _“Yes,_ ” Seungmin said at the same time with a maniacal grin.

“If anybody asks-” Woojin started.

“-Seung and Lix don’t speak English, Hyunjin can’t read, Jisung’s off his meds, Jeongin is Changbin’s guide dog and I don’t know them,” Minho rattled off. Apparently he had made a Plan C without them.

“Uh,” Woojin was marginally taken aback by the interruption. “Fine. But also if they ask for your parents you’re all orphans.”

“You’re just going to let them cause chaos in some poor human’s shop?” Chan asked Woojin. 

"I don't know, Chan. Is that a decision I'm allowed to make?" Woojin said icily. Woojin never yelled, no matter what chaos they created and while Felix had learnt to recognise the sarcasm he often used he had never heard his Hyung sound so confrontational.

"For fuck's sake, Woojin!" Chan threw his hands up in frustration. "I'm not trying to overrule you, I'm just saying that I think it's a bad idea."

"And if I think it's a good idea and you think it's a bad idea, who wins?" Woojin said, clearly not believing Chan's words for a second.

Chan took a breath in to start an argument that never came. Instead the corners of his lips turned down and tears started to well in his eyes.

The fire in Woojin's eyes died immediately. "Luna," he said softly, reaching out and wiping his thumb under Chan's eyes. "Hey hey hey. Don't cry, Channie. I'm sorry."

Chan didn't speak, didn't move, but he also didn't push Woojin away. Felix had only seen him cry a few times ever and he knew it was because Chan didn't want to seem weak in front of the kids. Yet he was crying now, if only barely, so something must be really wrong. Something more than just sexual frustration.

"Kids, can you go please," Woojin said firmly. For once nobody argued and they filed out of the room in silent single file. Felix gave Chan's arm a reassuring squeeze at his left but Chan didn't acknowledge it, staring down at his lap.

***

"I think it's safe to say it's not just blue balls," Jisung said once they were all crammed into his and Changbin's room 

Jeongin had crawled into Hyunjin's lap and Changbin was holding Seungmin's hand as they sat side by side. Jisung was pacing in the small space, unable to sit still and Minho leant against the window sill, reaching out to touch Jisung every time the witch turned to dispell the static. Felix was the last into the room and he wedged himself between Seungmin and Hyunjin despite there being a free bed. He needed touch right now.

"What do you think Hyung meant - "Is that a decision I'm allowed to make?" Hyunjin asked. 

"Do you think they're going to break up?" Changbin said as if he hadn't heard Hyunjin. Perhaps he hadn't. His eyes had a glassy far away look to them.

Jisung's alarm clock started to smoke and let out an electronic whine. Hyunjin grabbed it and threw it to the ground where it split open and went silent.

"You've got to calm down, Jisungie," Minho said. He stopped Jisung's pacing with hands on his shoulders. "Baby, your magic is getting out. You've got to calm down. Look at me. Deep breathes."

Felix hadn't been there the first time this had happened but he'd seen the aftermath. Since then Jisung's stray magic normally escaped when he got excited and it was easy enough for him to get it under control. The most they'd lost was the rice cooker. 

Once a customer had been rude to Changbin and half a shelf went up in flames but the fire shocked Jisung enough for him to get it back under control. Felix had a feeling this time would not be like that. Jisung didn't seen to be responding to Minho, Felix wasn't even sure he had noticed the alarm going off.

The light above them had been off but it suddenly shone brightly before going off again, broken.

"Someone get Chan," Minho said tensely.

"But-" Seungmin protested.

"I don't care what they're going through," Minho said. "This is their fault. Get. Chan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im soooorry
> 
> First woochan took over and now they're putting angst in the happy fic 😭
> 
> That argument was really difficult to write considering I had to think of Chan and Woojin's thoughts and the information they know as well as what Felix thinks of them and how he'd react.
> 
> I have an alternative direction for the arguement too if you're interested-
> 
> \---------
> 
> Would you rather they set fire to someone else’s shop or our own?” Woojin retorted. 
> 
> Seven heads followed the argument like an incredibly close-range tennis match. Ping-pong. Like a ping-pong match. With a bomb.
> 
>  _“Ours,”_ Chan replied. “When they set fire to our shop I don’t get charged millions of won in damages and nobody calls the police. I know you’re used to running from your problems but I’d rather the human police didn’t start records on my barely-human immortal children.”
> 
> “Oh, _suddenly_ you’re afraid of getting in trouble with the law?” Woojin rolled his eyes.


	8. Sitting in a Thunderstorm

Felix leapt up, not wanting to watch his friend suffer, and ran. 

"Jisung's magic," he said in a rush as soon as he opened the door. Chan jumped into action immediately, whirling Felix out of his way. Woojin was slower but in his defense he didn’t have the advantage of super speed.

“It’s going to be ok, Felix,” Woojin assured him as they followed Chan. “Chan knows what to do.”

When they entered the bedroom Chan was holding up his hands as he slowly approached Jisung like he was facing a wounded animal. Minho stood at Jisung’s back, still holding onto his hand, quite literally grounding a live wire.

“It’s ok, Sungie,” Chan said calmly. “Woojin and I are fine.”

“No you’re _not,”_ Jisung said, his blue eyes full of pain. He gestured wildly at the room “All of us can see it and we don’t _why.”_

“I can explain, Sungie,” Woojin said. He guided Felix to sit on Changbin’s lap and stepped up beside Chan so Jisung could see them both. “Would that help? What I said to Chan right now was horrible and I shouldn’t have said it but I can explain why we’re fighting. Do you want me to do that?”

Jisung hesitated but eventually nodded. Felix knew now what Changbin had meant when he said you could feel Jisung’s magic in the air when he lost control of it. It was like sitting in a thunderstorm and having no idea where or when the next lightning bolt would hit. Thankfully for the moment it seemed that Jisung had just enough of a handle on it not to actively destroy anything. That or Minho was doing more than he let on.

“Do you want to sit down, Sungie?” Chan asked and Jisung reached out his free hand towards him. “With me?” Chan guessed. “Yes, you can sit with me.”

It took them a few seconds to get settled. Thanks to the younger boys all crammed on Jisung’s bed, there was space on Changbin’s for the others. Jisung didn’t let go of Minho’s hand and sat sandwiched between him and Chan. He took Chan’s hand too and Chan winced as he did but didn’t let go. Minho was acting as an outlet then. It was typical of him to do something like that without complaint. Woojin sat at Chan’s other side and swallowed hard as he made eye contact with Felix. Whatever secret he was keeping scared him. Felix tried hard not to jump to conclusions and focused on the weight of Changbin’s arm across his lap.

‘I,” Woojin paused and closed his eyes to centre himself. Felix had never seen him so unsure of himself before. “I sent a letter to my mother,” Woojin said. “I thought I should tell her than I’m not living nomadically anymore and I have a family.” He smiled ruefully. “I’m so proud of all of you and I thought she would be happy. She always wanted me to have a family.”

Dread settled in Felix’s stomach. More shitty families. They’d only just got Seungmin free from his, why couldn’t people just let them be happy.

“Go on,” Chan said, giving Woojin’s hand a squeeze.

“She replied,” Woojin said. “But she didn’t exactly agree with who or rather ‘what’ I considered my family. And she said that Seoul is no place for a werewolf. Which, “Woojin tilted his head in consideration, “is kind of true. She wants me to go home where ‘it’s safer to raise young children’.” Ah, a classic- racist family members. It really was like Seungmin’s Dad all over again.

“Who’s not invited?” Hyunjin asked, barely keeping his anger in check. 

“Chan.” Woojin glanced at his boyfriend, clearly distressed to be saying this. “And I _don’t_ agree with her- Chan’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I never want to leave him. It’s just... some of the other stuff she said got to my head.”

“It’s ok, Jinnie,” Chan said. “I still love you.”

“But I hurt you,” Woojin said, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling for a second, the watching eyes too much. “I listened to her and I hurt you.”

“And I’ve hurt you before too. It’ll be ok.” Chan then turned to Jisung, shaking their joined hands lightly. “Yeah, Sungie? Do you remember when Woojin first arrived? I hurt Woojin really badly and we were still fine weren’t we?”

Jisung nodded with a frown on his face, concentrating hard. His eyes were still the bright blue of a morpho butterfly wing but the taste of burning was less noticeable in the air. Felix kind of wished he was in Jisung’s place, but only physically. Chan was only checking that Jisung was doing ok, which was fair enough- he couldn’t imagine what taming magic must feel like but from the sweat on Jisung’s brow it wasn’t easy. Yet, they were all hurting from this and Felix was nothing but a witness to Chan and Minho’s comfort. Changbin had always been a rock to Felix and while Felix could physically feel Changbin’s chest pressed against his back and his strong arm on his waist when he glanced back Changbin’s eyes were glassy, his mind far from present. It was strange to feel so isolated in a room full of people.

“What other stuff did your mum say?” Felix asked Woojin quietly, now the threat of magic explosion was diminished and under high surveillance.

“Most of it was ok,” Woojin said. “She really wants to meet Innie since I told her he wants to get a wolf form.”

Jeongin perked up slightly at that and Woojin fondly smiled at him. Jeongin had been trying to wear Woojin down to letting him get a wolf form for over a year now.

“Don’t get too excited, Innie,” Woojin warned him. “Channie thinks I should take you since it would be a really good place to learn a bigger form but I don’t want you to have to hear them badmouthing him. My mum was being a lot politer than I know some of the others will be.”

“What did she say?” Minho asked.

Woojin hesitated. “I don’t think you should hear that.”

“Come on, what did she say?” Minho pressed, leaning out around Jisung and Chan to see Woojin and egg him on. “None of us are sheltered little angels, we know what the real world is like.”

Woojin’s face twisted and Chan patted him on the leg. 

“I can tell them,” Chan offered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've written past the angst now and gotten to the fun again but you lot have to wait until tomorrow to get that far ha!


	9. Solidarity

“I can tell them,” Chan offered. “I think it was ‘People like him will never treat you like an equal. I hope you are not submitting to him, little bear’.” 

Chan raised an eyebrow at Woojin, almost like a challenge, and Woojin blushed. It was oddly nice to see them flirting again.

“She didn’t mean it like that, Channie, and you know it,” Woojin said gruffly. Chan’s face lit up with a smile at that reaction.

“Oi!” Seungmin said, leaning forward and snapping his fingers between them. “Focus! You promised information. Pay up and then you can go do your horrendous foreplay behind closed doors where we don’t have to listen to it.”

“Easy for you to say, way down at the end of the corridor.” Jeongin scoffed. “Closing the door has no effect when I can hear them through the wall.”

“Oooookay!” Chan interrupted loudly his ears red with embarrassment. “The rest of the letter?” He didn’t wait for anybody to answer and kept rambling until his brain reengaged. “Yeah? Yeah. Ok, so. Um. The bit after that was… ‘He will take advantage of your love and drop you when you stop being useful to him. It breaks my heart to think of the pain you will suffer the longer you stay there. Please come home and we can find a mate that will truly love you. You should bring the shifter boys with you- that is no household for them to be in and they will be freer to be who they are here. If you have any trouble know that our patrols are very vigilant and no vampires are permitted on the territory and any measure will be taken to ensure that.”

That.. was a lot for Felix to take in. Chan recited the letter like he was remembering a grocery list, one eye closed as he concentrated, but the concern from Woojin’s mother still bled through in the words. She genuinely thought that Woojin was in danger of heartbreak and possibly much more if he stayed with Chan. He’d heard that vampire and werewolves had a feud but it had always seemed like leftover remnants from a less tolerant time. After all, Woojin and Chan were in a loving relationship and nobody that came to the shop seemed to care. But maybe, like the rest of them, Chan and Woojin were outliers of their species.

“You memorised it?” Woojin asked Chan, horrified. “Why would you do that?”

Chan shrugged. “It was important.”

“It was a death threat, Channie-hyung,” Seungmin said. “She threatened to kill you.”

“If I go on pack property, which I won’t,” Chan said lightly. _Just how many death threats had this man received to be this blase about it?_

"If _you're_ not allowed on pack property then I'm not going to go," Hyunjin said, deadly serious in his decision.

"I'm not either," Felix piped up. Anyone who wasn’t willing to meet Chan after Woojin had told them how wonderful he was wasn’t worth meeting. Chan wasn’t even good at being a vampire and Woojin must have told his mother that because he told anyone that would listen about how his dumb vampire boyfriend didn’t even like blood.

"I'm not either," Seungmin echoed. "If I wanted prejudice I'd go see my father."

Changbin snorted. "Same with my family." He and Seungmin high fived. It was a little sad.

"I don't want to go see a bunch of smelly wolves thanks," Minho turned up his nose haughtily, making the younger boys laugh.

"I take it I'm about as welcome as Channie-hyung?" Jisung said morosely after the giggles faded.

"Yeah probably," Woojin admitted. "Sorry Sungie.”

"It's fine," Jisung smiled. "I hate the outdoors."

There was just one person left to state their opinion and Felix was trying his hardest not to look at Jeongin and pressure the boy any more. Instead he took the hand Changbin had wrapped around his waist and started playing with his rings. Chsngbin's rings always matched each other in some way and went well with his outfit. Felix admired him for it silently and did his best to replicate the fashion in his own way but he felt like he never quite pulled it off as casually as Changbin did.

"You can go if you'd like, Innie," Chan encouraged the young boy who was squirming in Hyunjin's lap. "They'd welcome you and I'm sure you'd get some good practice in all of your forms."

Jeongin's eyebrows scrunched, reflecting his conflicting thoughts. 

"I can also take you out in the forest North of here," Woojin offered. "You wouldn't get the same support and advice with just me but-"

"You'll let me get a wolf form?" Jeongin asked excitedly. "Really?"

""Yes." Woojin smiled at Jeongin’s puppy enthusiasm. "I was going to work on it with you this summer anyway."

"Then your mum can suck it!" Jeongin crowed and shifted to his favourite fox form. His t-shirt suck on his head and he ran in circles until he headbutted the dresser, knocking it off and bounded up into Woojin’s lap in a single leap to scream in his face.

"Language!" Woojin scolded him, struggling to hold Jeongin down and he yipped at him. "I don't care if you're a fox, you're still not allowed to swear."

"Can someone get me choco milk?" Jisung asked, his eyes finally faded to warm brown. "I feel like a ran a marathon."

"You short-circuited one alarm clock, that's barely exertion," Hyunjin scoffed but got up to meet Jisung's request now his lap was free.

"Do you want me to see if I've got enough energy to pull you through the floor again?" Jisung retorted, yelling the words louder as Hyunjin retreated. "Because I could definitely pull you through the floor again!"

"Do that again and I'll kick you through after him," Changbin issued a counter-threat.

"He's not got the energy," Minho reassured him. "He's been pumping my blood manually for the last half hour."

"Ew?" Felix sent Jisung a disgusted look

"There weren't any fridges to levitate!" Jisung defended himself.

"You've got issues," Felix told him.

"Says the boy who got cramp in his flight muscle and accidently decked a full-grown werewolf when he shrugged," Jisung replied. 

That was months ago. Jisung needed to let that one go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's hard to write 9 people in the same room, I feel like a was leaving people out but I think I gave everyone at least two lines?
> 
> Updates should slow down now cos unfortunately scientific essays require references and take a lot longer to write than a fanfic. IF my updates dont slow down please shame me in the comments. I gotta get this degree


	10. Poly-rhythms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so guess whos procrastinating

"Now we've covered why _I_ was stressed," Woojin said once Hyunjin was back and Jisung was slurping his chocolate milk. "Care to share why you were so out of sorts, Channie?"

Chan laughed nervously, fiddling with his hands. "Uh, I've had like 1 hour sleep in the last 3 days. Four days? What day is it?"

"Channie!" Woojin said exasperatedly. At one point it had been said in a scolding tone but that had no effect on Chan's actions so Woojin had eventually come to accept Chan's bad habits like that rest of them. "That will be why you cried so easily earlier."

"No!" Chan objected, then reconsidered. "Maybe."

Felix was very glad that Woojin was paying attention to Chan's condition again. Watching them interact made their plan of 'buy a bed' and 'lock them in a room' sound like overkill and also not effective in the slightest. Guilt tripping was clearly the way to go and Woojin had that down to an art form.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Woojin asked. "I thought you were getting sleep during the day."

"He was making new songs instead," Changbin whispered in Felix's ear. “One of them has this really cool poly-rhythm.” Felix lost all focus on the Dads’ conversation as Changbin’s hands slid onto his thighs to tap out what was presumably the ‘poly-rhythm’.

Felix made a noise in his throat he hoped conveyed interest or at least agreement. His head was busy setting off every alarm bell and replying clips of conversations late at night with Seungmin. Seungmin was certainly in for another rant tonight.

“It’s off-beat two over three,” Changbin continued so the noise Felix made couldn’t have sounded too much like he was choking on his own tongue. “See. This hand is doing two beats for ever three this hand is doing,” Changbin explained. He slowed down his tapping and whispered the count in Felix’s ear under his breath. “ 123 123 123 123, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2, 1 2.” 

Changbin was always a patient teacher but surely even he should be able to realise why Felix couldn’t concentrate right now. Unfortunately, Felix was saved from making any more unflattering noises by raised voices. 

“ICE CREAM!” Hyunjin yelled. Changbin’s hands stilled on Felix’s thighs.

“Ice cream?” Felix asked and next to him Seungmin nodded. 

“Woojin-hyung is paying us to leave.” Seungmin grinned.

“What are you going to do once we leave?” Minho asked Woojin with a wink as he took his credit card from him.

“Sleep,” Woojin said, deadpan. “Maybe knock Channie out with book, we’ll see how things go.”

Jeongin jumped off his lap and stole his clothes back from Hyunjin, dragging them behind him out of the room. He had the right idea. If you wanted ice cream it was best to leave before Chan remembered about Plan Everybody’s Grounded. Felix took Changbin’s hand and followed Jeongin out of the room while Jisung inadvertently acted as a distraction. Seungmin and Hyunjin joined them.

“I think you’re going to fuck,” Jisung said proudly as if he had just made the revelation of the century. Him and Minho together were truly a dangerous pair. 

“I think you don’t want ice cream,” Chan replied. Felix couldn’t see their faces anymore as they gathered in the hallway with baited breath but Chan’s tone said Jisung was on thin ice. And they couldn’t leave because Minho had the card and everybody knew ice cream tasted sweeter when somebody else was paying.

“I do want ice cream!” Jisung yelped. His cry was followed by a thump.

“He fell over, didn’t he?” Hyunjin sighed and leaned against the wall, flicking his hair off his forehead. “Why does he always forget that magic tires him out?"

“Are you ok?” Felix heard Chan ask. There was less concern and more exasperation. 

“I’m fine!” Jisung said cheerily. “Minho-hyung, carry me!”

There was a grumble from Minho but he would no doubt pick up Jisung.

“Whipped,” Seungmin grumbled as Jeongin skidded back down the corridor and careered into Hyunjin.

“What did I miss?” Jeongin asked breathlessly.

“Jisung risking his right to existence,” Seungmin told him, turning the young boy around to fix his fringe while Hyunjin untangled Jeongin’s necklace from his tag. Those three were really something and if Felix could just get one of them to admit it maybe good things could come of it.

The door to the bedroom burst open and Minho strode through with Jisung slung over his shoulder. 

“Bye Dads!” Jisung called through the open door. Felix could see Chan sitting with his head on Woojin’s shoulder, his eyes closed. It was only Day One of the school holidays and they’d already worn him out.

“Goodbye Problem Child!” Woojin called back. _Go away,_ was implied.

Felix led the way downstairs, swinging around the door frame to the dining room and propelling himself halfway down the staircase. He was enjoying the lack of door there. Perhaps he could convince Changbin not to replace it.

"Boulder field," Changbin muttered behind him, and then louder, "Lixie, be careful, would you?"

"I'm fine, Hyungie!" Felix turned at the bottom of the stairs to beam up at him. "Are you going to get a new door?"

"I was just going to take the one between the living room and the dining room and move it," Changbin admitted as they put on their shoes. "Might knock through some of that wall while I'm at it. The dining room doesn't get any natural light."

"Yes, do that!" Hyunjin enthused, throwing an arm over each of them as they headed out the back door. "And we should get rid of the table and chairs. A tall table is too European. I don't know where Channie-hyung got it but it does _not_ fit with the space."

"Where are you going to do your homework then?" Changbin asked.

"The kitchen?" Hyunjin shrugged. "Downstairs? Seungminnie's desk? The normal tables we'll get to replace that one? There are lots of places." He turned and yelled back to the others. "Who wants to get rid of the table upstairs?!" Changbin had to grab him to stop him walking into a bin. 

"Me!" Jeongin replied. "It says _Han Jisung is a genius_ at my place and I have to stare at it every day."

"Consider it a blessing!!" Jisung yelled at him. He had put on heelies and was using Minho to drag him along. It wasn't going well on the loose stones down the side alley of the shop and he was going to eat dirt before they even made it to the street.


	11. The Fun Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I interrupt your regular schedule of Felix-POV for some steamy Woochan because I want to
> 
> We can get back to the kids being cute at the ice cream parlour in a minute.

“Are you sleepy, Channie?” Woojin asked once the chatter of the kids had faded down the street. Chan turned his face into Woojin’s neck. 

“No,” he mumbled. “‘M tired though.” 

“I’ll bet, baby,” Woojin said, running a finger along Chan’s cheekbone. “You’ve got to look after yourself better.”

“‘S hard,” Chan whined. “I can’t sleep when I lie down and then I get stressed because I’ve done nothing and I’m still tired and-”

Woojin shushed him, running his fingers through Chan’s curls. “How about we go to our room and I’ll make you relax?” he suggested.

“I’m tired,” Chan repeated, this time as an excuse. “It won’t fair.”

“Channie,” Woojin said. “Look at me.” Chan reluctantly lifted his head. “I’m your boyfriend. We’re a team. We help each other. And one of my jobs in this team is to help you sleep as best you can. I’ve been so caught up in my own problems lately that I’ve not been doing that. And now you’re suffering.” Chan opened his mouth to protest and Woojin put a finger to his lips. “Uh-uh. I know you’re going to say you should be able to handle it on your own but you can’t Channie. And that’s ok.”

Chan nipped at Woojin’s finger on his lips, gentle enough not to draw blood. “I can manage it on my own,” he said grumpily. “I’ve just been stressed lately.”

“Because of me?” Woojin asked, pulling Chan into his lap. Chan’s knees bracketed his hips and his hand slid up his chest to rest over his heart. Woojin knew Chan was checking if he was worried by his heartbeat the same way he tracked emotions by scent. “Don’t hide things from me, Channie.” Woojin said. The spike in his heart rate had nothing to do with guilt.

Chan gripped Woojin’s shirt and stared at the fabric bunching. “Since you got that letter you’ve not been sleeping well either. I can tell from your heart rate that you aren’t going into REM sleep and you keep turning over. If I’m in the bed too you hit the wall and wake up,” he admitted, looking up at Woojin shyly. “So I stopped coming to bed so you’d have more space.”

Woojin took Chan’s face in his hands and pressed their foreheads together. “You are too good for me, Channie,” Woojin whispered before kissing him lightly on the lips. “I’m going to give you the best blow job of your life,” he promised.

Chan giggled, his dimples showing and kissed Woojin back lazily. “To get me to fall asleep?”

Woojin hummed into their kiss in agreement and then had to hold Chan away from him to add, “And also because you deserve it. But not on Binnie’s bed.”

Chan ignored the caveat and pulled Woojin’s t-shirt off his shoulder to bite into the strong muscle there.

“Channie,” Woojin gasped. “Ten seconds, just give me ten seconds to get to our room.”

“Multitask,” Chan whispered in his ear, guiding Woojin’s hands to his ass. He locked his arms behind Woojin’s neck and latched onto his mouth, making it exceedingly difficult for Woojin to concentrate on anything but him. 

“You’ll be the death of me, Channie,” Woojin said as he hoisted him up onto his hips and tipped Chan backwards so he had leverage to stand them up. Chan giggled giddily as he dipped towards the floor for a second before being lifted up; a sleep-deprived adrenaline junkie having the time of his life. 

“That can be arranged,” Chan said and burst into another fit of giggles. He had let go of Woojin’s neck (and his mouth) in order to lean back and touch the floor with his hands as Woojin stood holding Chan’s waist with his feet planted wide to stop them both falling over.

“You are _so_ sleep-deprived,” Woojin commented fondly as Chan lost purchase on the floor and flailed. Chan’s t-shirt slid up his body, trapping his arms and covering his face. “Get up before I drop you and knock you out in a much less fun way.”

“What’s the fun way?” Chan asked, fumbling to get upright again. His heels were pressed against the back of Woojin’s thighs but he had seemed to have forgotten the function of the sculpted six-pack he sported. He grabbed at Woojin’s belt blindly and and pulled for leverage, nearly sent them both headfirst into the wall. 

“Luna shining.” Woojin stumbled but stayed on his feet. He helped Chan up and held the man tight to his chest as he swiftly moved them to their own bedroom. The last thing they needed was to have to explain to the kids how their stuff got broken. “Sex, Chan. The fun way is sex.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is as far as I will go
> 
> I think you'll get some changlix development in the next chapter too


	12. The Best Flavour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pick a character, their ship is sailing. Well to be fair most of them are still in the boat yard and the catamaran is in many pieces BUT. SHIPS. being built

Felix got strawberry ice cream because strawberry is the best flavour. Jeongin got mint choc chip because Jeongin was wrong. However, he was also cute and very excited so Felix didn’t tell him about his poor judgement.

“I like all the flavours,” Jisung whined to himself as he got closer to the front of the line. “How am I supposed to chose?”

“Pick chocolate,” Minho told him. “Triple chocolate. That’s the one you like the most.” He stepped up to the counter, ordered his own cone and said that he was paying for all of them as Jeongin and Hyunjin has already run out of the shop with their treats.

“But what about strawberry?” Jisung asked. “I like strawberry too.” See. He and Felix really were twins.

Minho handed his cone to Jisung. “Taste.”

Jisung licked the strawberry ice cream thoughtfully and it was a testament to how much Minho liked him that the older boy didn’t take it back immediately. “Yeah, I want chocolate.” Jisung decided, still licking Minho’s ice cream.

“Told you,” Minho smirked and ordered for him. The employee handed it over and then Jisung was holding two cones, his eyes wide. Felix watched the cogs turn before Jisung mushed them together to lick the two flavours at once.

“Han Jisung,” Minho groaned as he turned around with Woojin’s card and the receipt. “Why are you the way you are?”

Jisung only grinned and licked Minho’s clean of chocolate before handing it back.

“This is your fault,” Minho told Felix. This was a common complaint from him and there was never any bite to it. Minho liked to pretend they weren’t his family.

“Want me to stand in the window again and scare another boy for Sungie to sweep of his feet?” Felix asked. Pointing out that Minho had come to the shop on his own volition was also good but his reaction to the idea of Jisung finding a new interest was always the best.

“No,” Minho said firmly, making evil eyes at Felix for exposing him. He recovered quickly though and Jisung was none the wiser. “If I didn’t live with you losers I wouldn’t even be your friends.”

“You don’t even have a bed, Hyung,” Changbin pointed out. “It’s been like two months and you don’t work at the shop so there’s no other reason for you to stay. Face it- you like us.”

“Free food,” Minho said as if he wasn’t the one buying and cooking the food a good proportion of the time.

“Where?” Hyunjin asked, spinning around.

“In your hand, you idiot,” Minho yelled at him. “Lick around the side or it’s going to go on your jumper.”

Hyunjin screeched, turning his cone with too much force and the scope fell off and onto the pavement with a sad plop. “Hyuuung, buy me another one.”

“No,” Minho said, judging Hyunjin’s tantrum hard. “Woojinnie-hyung can definitely count to seven. He’ll know if I bought more and then he won’t trust me with his card again. I need him to get complacent so I can buy a car.”

“A car?” Felix asked.

“Can you even drive, Hyung?” Jeongin asked.

“I drive, yes,” Minho answered. He really needed to work on his lying skills if he wanted to be able to say anything once Seungmin broke his curse.

“But not legally,” Seungmin said knowingly. “And Jinnie’s ice cream was definitely your fault. You should buy him a new one.”

“Fucking _fine_ , you creepy little wizard,” Minho rolled his eyes and turned on his heel to walk back to the shop. The rest of them followed him like ducklings. He turned back to point at Seungmin. “But you’re on puppy dog eyes duty when Woojinnie-hyung realises I bought eight.”  
“Why me?” Seungmin protested.

“Because you look like a puppy,” Minho shot back before turning to the amused cashier. “One- hold on, I forget what it was- Jinnie, what flavour?”

“Cherry,” Hyunjin sang, very pleased with himself.

“You didn’t get cherry the first time,” Minho said, narrowing his eyes.

“Yeah, but I want cherry now and if I’m getting another one I want it to be cherry.”

Felix saw no holes in that logic. Jisung did.

“Ehhh, _no_. You are not getting two flavours of ice cream just because you’re a human exclamation point.”

“Well I didn’t get to taste the last one, _did I?”_ Hyunjin shot back.

“Just get the same one, Hyunjinnie-hyung,” Jeongin sighed. “Seungminnie-hyung got cherry- you can share with him.”

“I did _not_ agree to that,” Seungin said crossly.

“Come on, puppy,” Minho teased. “What’s saliva between friends?”

Seungmin bristled and his mouth turned down in a frown as if he was doing a very difficult maths problem. Except Seungmin was good at maths and didn’t normally make that face.

“It’s fine, Minnie,” Hyunjin said, shooting Seungmin a blinding smile. “Banana split cone, please,” he told the cashier. Once Hyunjin had his new cone he strode out of the shop with a happy smile, leaving Minho to pay.

Felix never quite trusted that Hyunjin was really happy all the times he smiled. The turn around always seemed too quick and he was often still smiling when the appearance of his octopus legs indicated his was far from comfortable. There was no reason for Hyunjin’s smile to be fake this time but Felix still had a feeling it wasn’t entirely genuine. He was about to ask Seungmin his opinion when the other fae boy finally stopped frowning, grabbed an extra tiny spoon, and pushed past him out the shop.

“Maybe that’s enough meddling for today, Hyung?” Changbin suggested lightly.

“Yeah, maybe, Binnie,” Minho replied quietly, pocketing Woojin’s card. “Come on, let’s go to the park so we don’t get back home too soon and see _things_.”

“Woojin-hyung’s dick?” Jeongin asked, eyeing his hyungs for a reaction and he bit into his ice cream.

 _“Yang Jeongin, where did you learn that language?”_ Jisung said, scandalised.

“You?” Jeongin said, raising an eyebrow. “I’m going to tell hyungs where we’re going,” he told them before running off after Seungmin and Hyunjin who were headed in the wrong direction.

“Today’s been really messy,” Changbin commented as they strolled towards the park a measured distance behind Jisung and Minho. The park was downhill and Jisung was walking on wheels. It was better to stay out of the crash zone and trust Minho’s fast reflexes to stop Jisung rolling into traffic.

“But we tidied your whole workshop today?” Felix replied.

“I meant emotionally,” Changbin said hurriedly. “Like-”

Felix grabbed his hand. “I know what you meant, Binnie-hyung.” He smiled, warmth bubbling in his chest that Changbin still tried to help him. Even though he’d been in Truailleadh for over two years now Changbin still helped without judgement. “We all have different backgrounds- it was never going to be easy.”

“What do you think is happening with Hyunjinnie and Seungminnie?” Changbin asked.

“You mean Jinnie, Minnie _and Innie?”_ Felix said. For once there was something he knew more than Changbin about.

“What?” Changbin said. “Innie?”

“You can have a relationship with more than one person, Binnie-hyung,” Felix said loftily. “Minnie’s just got to be brave enough to suggest it.”


	13. Forever?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You make me feel sPEciAL!!

"So, what do your parents think of you being here?" Changbin asked. 

The ice cream was all gone and Felix had stolen the heelys from Jisung's feet when the witch lay down. He'd then had to run which wasn't an easy feat in heelys but was a harder feat in socks and Jisung was too lazy to chase him. However Changbin had hurried over in alarm when Felix tripped about 10 metres from the scene of the crime so he was pinned as an accomplice and had had to flee with Felix. They were now sharing a branch in a very spacious bush as the light was beginning to leave the sky.

"Here Truailleadh or here Seoul?" Felix asked, stalling.

"Here Trua-" Changbin attempted to replicate the sound but quickly gave up. "Here. With us. Permanently."

Felix pulled a face and made a slashing motion across his neck. 

"Not good?" Changbin genuinely asked. _Really?_ Since when has that motion had positive connotations?

"My mum didn't want me to go and she still doesn't want me to be here." Felix admitted, kicking at the ground. "I suppose the separation is worse too since she doesn't get to hear from me or know how much time has passed."

"And what about your dad?" Changbin asked thoughtfully. "Does he feel the same?"

"Changbin-hyung.." Felix didn't know how to break this to him. "The Fae aren't really… monogamous." He held his breath and waited for the criticism.

"So you don't know who your dad is?" Changbin said eventually.

"No, I know who he is," Felix said. "We're just, raised communally?" _Why was he saying it like a question. It wasn't a question, it was a fact._ "Often one parent will take a role as the primary caregiver but everyone helps. My father's around but so is everyone. Does that make sense?"

"Um," Changbin twisted a ring around his finger. "All the words made sense. But I don't, I don't understand why your dad…" He pouted as it got too difficult for him to express his thoughts.

"Ok." Felix swung his legs, making the branch sway. He tried not to let the panic rise thinking about how different their upbringings were. "The fae believe that love isn't permanent. So you stay with someone a night, a few weeks, a couple of years, and then when the feelings fade you move on. 

"My parents _were_ together and they _did_ love each other but now they don't. My mum has loved other people and my dad has loved other people and that's normal. For us. I stayed with my mum until I was independent and I have an older sister that stayed with my mum before me and a younger sister that stayed with my dad."

"And your sisters..? Are they..?" Changbin asked quietly.

"Yeah, half-sisters." Felix said, pleased that he wasn't ashamed to admit it. "I don't know them well though."

"My parents are still together," Changbin said. "They will always be together. Dwarves don't .." Changbin paused to find the right words. "Dwarves don't give up on love, even when it's gone."

"I'm sorry," Felix said. He didn't know if it was the right thing to say but it sounded awful to be trapped with someone forever. Surely you would get bored of them.

"No, it's fine," Changbin waved his hands. "My parents still love each other a lot. I'd like to have that one day," he added wistfully. "A person that's just for me."

"Forever?" Felix asked, his voice barely a whisper.

Changbin looked at him. Really looked at him, as if he were trying to memorise all Felix's freckles and the exact shade of his eyes. It was a little unnerving. "Maybe not forever," Changbin allowed. "But for a really long time, I hope."

Felix broke his gaze and stared down at his swinging feet. "Changbinnie-hyung, I really really like you." He took a deep breath but it didn't seem to bring any more oxygen into his blood as his head still felt dizzy. "I like you more than I've liked anybody else but I don't know if it will be forever."

Changbin's hand found his on the branch and he precariously let go to intertwine their fingers.

"Lixie, I love you," Changbin said, so sure and steady with his words. "And I know you love me too because you've said it before-"

"But I've told lots of people I love them," Felix said in panic. "And-"

"Lixie-"

"-I can't-"

"Felix."

"-promise that-"

 _"Yongbok!"_ Changbin said exasperatedly.

Felix frowned with distaste. "I don't like that name."

"I know, sunshine, I know," Changbin said fondly. "You weren't listening. I think what Minho-hyung joked about earlier scared you a bit, yeah?"

"Yeah," Felix mumbled. "I thought you wouldn'twantmetoflirtwithyouanymore."

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that, Lixie?" Changbin smiled.

Felix whined. This was so embarrassing. "I thought you wouldn't want me to flirt. With you. Anymore."

"Why would I not want that, sunshine?" Changbin asked. The nickname was usually used on very rare special occasions and now Changbin had said it twice in one conversation. It made Felix's insides squirm. "It makes me feel special and as long as you want to flirt with me I'd like it very much if you did."

"And if I wanted to kiss you?" Felix said bravely. And then his bravery was used up and he had to add, "but maybe not forever."

Changbin grinned. "We'd have to stop sometimes," he joked. "For food and sleep and-" 

"Ok, ok, ok!" Felix stopped him. "Seriously Hyung. Can I kiss you?”

“Not just once, right?” Changbin asked, sounding very young all of a sudden.

“Not just once,” Felix confirmed. “Promise.” He held out a pinkie and Changbin linked their hands together, completing the vow with a press of their thumbs. Felix jumped off the branch, squelching into the mulch under the bush. Getting the mud out of Jisung’s heelys would be a pain. “Come on,” he urged Changbin. “Jump down. It will be easier to kiss standing up.”

“We’re doing it _now?_ ,” Changbin asked. “Right now?”

“Yeah?” Felix said. There was no point waiting now they’d finally agreed to move forward. “And probably tomorrow and the next day and the- OH FUCK!”

Changbin had fallen off the branch. 

“Hyungie are you ok?” Felix asked, kneeling in the dirt beside him. Thankfully the mud had softened the impact.

“You can’t _say_ things like that,” Changbin whined, clutching at his chest. “You only just said you wanted to kiss me.”

Felix frowned down at him. “Yes. And you agreed, right? I thought you agreed?”

“I did!” Changbin sat up and winced as he discovered the mud had gotten in his hair. “But you _only just_ said you wanted to kiss me.”

“Do… I have to wait?” Felix asked. He had been so sure it was fine. After all, Chan and Woojin had started kissing almost as soon as they met.

“Well, it’s just-” He huffed before gathering his thoughts and shooting them into Felix’s heart in rapid fire. Like an automatic rifle. With words. “In dwarven culture you normally wait a week or so, sometimes a month after explicit verbal interest is shown before initiating a formal relationship.” Changbin suddenly became very interested in the mud on his hands.

“A month!” Felix was horrified. There was no way he was waiting that long to kiss Changbin. A memory played in his head unbidden at the thought. “Wait, what about when you kissed my cheek before?”

Changbin blushed crimson. “That was very improper. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“But you’ve already kissed me,” Felix reasoned. “So kissing me now should be fine.”

Changbin hid his face in his hands and when he took his hands away there was mud streaked on his cheeks and above his right eyebrow. “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted, giving in. “I’ve not kissed anybody properly before.”

“It’s easy,” Felix assured him, kneeling across Changbin’s thighs. They were both already muddy- no point getting up now. He wiped at the mud on Changbin’s face but it only streaked. Oh well, it would be mud on his face soon. Changbin’s actions were bolder than his words and he gripped Felix’s hips, tugging him down to sit in his lap. Felix was taller than him this way and he tilted Changbin’s face up with a finger under his chin. “Just copy what I do, ok?”

“Ok,” Changbin echoed. Felix didn’t give him a chance to change his mind and quickly tilted his head to peck Changbin on the lips. Changbin froze up so Felix leant back to give him space. This was probably quite a lot for him.

“Are you ok?” Felix asked.

“Do it again,” Changbin said. “I think I blacked out.”

Felix giggled and moved in slower for a second kiss. “Are you paying attention this time?” he whispered against Changbin’s lips. Changbin’s eyes were darting between his and it was getting disorientating. “Pick an eye, babe,” Felix suggested. “Or close yours.”

“But you’re so pretty,” Changbin protested, closing his eyes. _Terra, he was the sweetest boy in the universe._

“Focus on your lips,” Felix told him. “No blacking out this time.” Just as he leaned in Changbin stuck his lips out in a pout and Felix lost any control he had over the situation. “No, Binnie stop.” He giggled and poked Changbin in the side. “Binnie-hyuuuuung.” Changbin’s trout pout morphed into the most exaggerated sulking sad pout. “Stop! Stop it! Let me kiss you.” 

Changbin didn’t stop so Felix felt he deserved what he got. With a hand at the back of Changbin’s neck he sucked on Changbin’s lower lip and pushed his tongue into Changbin’s open mouth. Changbin became putty in his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If only Changbin's mother could see him now.


	14. There's Gossip

"What were you _doing?"_ Hyunjin asked when he spotted Felix and Changbin walking towards them. He could only see the fronts of them under the park spotlights and not the worst of the mud coating Changbin's back.

"Changbin-hyung fell over," Felix offered. He hoped that Changbin would fill in the gaps in his truths with believable lies. But then again, Seungmin was here so perhaps it would be best if Changbin didn't speak at all.

"You're the one covered in mud though," Jeongin pointed out. Changbin gave a slow, embarrassed turn and laughter broke out from their friends.

"I'm not walking back with you," Minho said once he had ascertained that the boy was unhurt.

"My heelys!" Jisung cried as Felix and Changbin fully stepped into the light.

"They're fine," Felix said quickly. "Just need a wash."

"They're not fine, they're _brown!"_

"I can't lie, Sung. They're fine." Felix said. Somehow Jisung was still falling for that line. "Do you want one for the ride home?"

***

"Channie-hyung is going to be disappointed in you," Hyunjin sang as he skipped up the street. 

"Not if he doesn't see," Changbin growled, leaning his full weight towards the road. "Can you help?"

Hyunjin stopped to wait on them as he considered. "Only because Felix is so nice," he decided and grabbed Felix's hand. 

"I'm nice!" Jisung protested from beside him. He and Felix had a heely on each, they're arms wrapped tightly around each other as Changbin and Minho pushed them from behind. Felix had no idea how they managed to get so many people to agree to this but he wasn't complaining.

There was just a short section of hill left before it flattened out towards home but the addition of Hyunjin's strength nearly sent them to the bottom of the hill again as Felix was pulled away from Jisung, his main balancing support. In all honesty, this was more of a core workout than it was fun.

"Minnie!" Hyunjin called out to the boys ahead of them. "Come help Jisung!"

They were getting a lot of looks from passersby now. Felix couldn't blame them. 

"Why would I do that?" Seungmin asked but ran back to prevent them toppling like dominoes. 

"Because you love us," Jisung grinned, clasping Seungmin's arm.

Seungmin pulled a face. "Debatable." He helped them anyway.

"Right, you can push yourselves now," Minho said when they reached the top of the hill. "And we can pretend with have nothing to do with you."

"Too late, Hyung!" Jisung said excitedly. "Everyone on the street has seen you with us now!"

"I hope they were at least looking at my ass," Minho muttered. "My ass looks great at that angle."

"Nah, they were looking at Binnie-hyung's ass," Jeongin informed them from where he was leaning against a wall, judging them. "His is covered in mud."

“Their loss,” Minho said grumpily.

***

They made it home without further incident and the mud on Felix and Changbin had dried to a point they could flake most of it off before going inside. Woojin would still smell the mud no matter how much they got off but hopefully there would be another chaotic event before then so they could avoid an interrogation. Changbin would definitely break if they were.

“They’re asleep,” Hyunjin whispered, peeking into the hyungs room. “It’s really cute.”

“Are they wearing clothes?” Jeongin asked before he looked.

“Probably not,” Hyunjin admitted. “But they’re covered.”

Felix took his turn in the doorway last. Hyunjin was right- they were cute. Well, what Felix could see of Woojin above the blanket was covered in darkening bite marks so it was clear that sleeping was not the only thing they had done, but the cuddling was cute. Their bed really was too small. Even spooning, Chan clinging to Woojin’s back and making use of the whole ‘not needing to breathe’ thing, Woojin’s hand was still hanging off the edge of the bed. 

Felix stupidly entered the room to tuck them back in, pulling the blanket further over their bare shoulders. Woojin’s eyes blinked open.

“Why do you smell of mud?” he asked sleepily, pulling the duvet tighter around himself.

“Changbin-hyung fell off a branch,” Felix offered. That statement had worked last time. Unfortunately, this was Woojin.

“Why do _you_ smell of mud?” Woojin asked again.

Felix glanced behind him. The coast was clear. “I kissed Changbin-hyung.”

Woojin’s eyes opened ever so slightly wider. “Congratulations. Have you talked about it?”

Felix nodded nervously.

“Great,” Woojin grunted. “Now get out my room. Channie’s sleeping.”

“No I’m not,” Chan grumbled, still hiding his face in Woojin’s back. “I woke up when someone tripped on the stairs.”

“That was Innie,” Felix informed him. “He’s fine. Changbin is also fine. Everyone’s fine,” he added, knowing what Chan was like. “You can go back to sleep.”

“I can’t,” Chan said. “Jin, can I get my arm back?”

Woojin shifted his weight and Chan wriggled his arm free from under him, allowing him to sit up. Woojin grumbled as he was pushed forward in the process.

“Sorry, baby,” Chan told him, sitting up carefully and pulling the duvet with him. “You can put your head on my thigh now. Woojin turned over, draping an arm possessively across Chan’s waist, and butted his head against Chan’s hip. Felix was glad to see the band of Chan’s boxers as the duvet was tugged down. While Chan was reluctantly awake, Woojin was clearly making a bid at round 2 of sleep. Felix didn’t blame him, it looked very cosy.

“Come here, Lix,” Chan said, patting the space on the bed where his legs were before. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Felix carefully climbed over Woojin and settled cross-legged facing Chan. One knee was hitting the wall and the over was propped over Woojin’s leg. They really needed a bigger bed. 

“I’m fine,” Felix said because even though there was a lot going on he didn’t know where to start.

“I can smell that you’re nervous, Lix,” Woojin mumbled. “Also you’ve just covered our bed in mud.”

“Sorry!” Felix said, pulling up his legs. It was really his shins that were muddy, and his arms, but it was mostly dry.

“It’s fine, Lixie,” Chan told him. “I was going to wash the sheets anyway. Now tell me about you and Binnie.”

“Well,” Felix started. “Binnie-hyung asked what _my_ parents thought about our family.” Woojin winced and Chan ran his fingers through his hair in comfort. “So I had to tell him about the fae and how it’s normal that my parents aren’t together. And then he told me that dwarves stay together _forever.”_

Chan smiled at Felix’s outrage and nodded for him to go on. 

“And then Binnie-hyung said he didn’t need forever but he wanted a really long time and I said that I liked him but probably not forever because forever is a _really long time.”_

Felix paused to breathe and Chan nodded again. “Woojinnie and I might be forever but we might not,” Chan said. “You shouldn’t worry about that far in advance.”

“Love you forever, Channie,” Woojin mumbled, close to sleep. 

Chan huffed in amusement and played with his boyfriend’s hair. “I hope it’s that long. Stop listening Jinnie and sleep.”

“S’gossip,” Woojin grumbled. “I wanna know something before Seungminnie for once.”

“So nice of you to care about me, Hyungie,” Felix teased. 

“That’s Channie’s job,” Woojin joked. “Get to the good bit before someone barges in.”

“Well I asked Hyung if I could kiss him and he fell off the branch he was sitting on. _Apparently,_ dwarves aren’t allowed to kiss until they’ve waited for all the excitement to go away or something.”

“They also need familial approval,” Chan said. “But I’m guessing Binnie skipped that step.”

 _“I need familial approval?”_ Felix asked. Changbin hadn’t mentioned that at all. “His family will never approve _me._ ” What if they found out and Changbin was taken away and made to marry a nice dwarf girl forever.

I approve,” Woojin said, raising one hand, his eyes still closed.

“I also approve,” Chan said. _Was it really that easy? Surely, dwarven traditions required actual dwarves._ Chan didn’t seem to think so. “So then you pushed Binnie into the mud and kissed him so amazingly his soul left his body?”

“No,” Felix said. Terra, when he said it like that it sounded like Felix was a bad influence. “Well, kind of. It was really good,” he admitted shyly. 

“Go slow with him, Lixie,” Chan warned. “He might not show it the way you’re used to but I know Binnie really loves you and I don’t want you to hurt each other.”

Felix nodded sincerely. He may not be used to lasting relationships but he was determined to do this right for Changbin. 

“Don’t be like me and Channie,” Woojin added. “We set a horrible example.”

“No, you’re the best together,” Felix protested. “We’re difficult kids.”

“You’re not wrong,” Woojin muttered. “Act natural, someone’s coming.”

Seungmin appeared at the door with Jeongin in Fox form curled around his neck. “There’s gossip,” he said, narrowing his eyes.

“None for you,” Woojin told him, curling closer to Chan.

“I kissed Binnie-hyung,” Felix said. There was no point trying to hide it, he was going to tell Seungmin later that night anyway.

Seungmin grinned at the value of the gossip and Jeongin fell off his shoulder with a yelp. Jeongin recovered quickly and leapt up onto the bed to settle in Chan’s lap and lick the shell of Woojin’s ear. Woojin gave him a warning growl that reverberated the entire bed. 

“Massage Hyung!” Felix cried happily, lying across Woojin’s back. Woojin growled again but it only had the effect that Felix wanted, sending warm vibrations up his spine. Seungmin flopped over Woojin too, giggling at the strange feeling.

“I was trying to sleep,” Woojin moaned.

“No you weren’t,” Chan said. “Are you going to shift tonight?”

Jeongin’s ears perked up at that and he nipped at Woojin’s ear.

“Not in this bed, I’m not,” Woojin said. The bed wasn’t built for two people let alone the five it currently held. An adult wolf would certainly not fit. “I’ll shift if we sleep in the living room,” he suggested.

“SLEEPOVER!!” Seungmin crowed to the rest of the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the idea of Felix climbing into bed with his dads to tell them about his date, they're cute.
> 
> Also Seungmin's sixth sense for gossip


	15. Air-drying

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> its a bit descriptive at the start bc im a biology nerd but stick with it til the end ;)

Felix was the last to the sleepover because Changbin took forever in the bathroom before him. Showers were really not Felix’s thing. His wings had to stay folded in the tiny stall and while they were largely water-repellent the way they naturally folded meant that the soap from his hair washed down his back and got trapped in the creases. He always had to finish his shower by opening his wings ever so slightly and taking the shower head off the wall to twist around and try to flush the soap out. It was a messy experience and Felix tried to avoid washing his hair and his body at the same time because of it.

Now he was clean but his wings were wet and dripping water down his back. He used to snap them open for a few minutes in the sun to dry them but here his wings had to understandably stay under the radar. That meant he could open them properly on the stairs or in the hall or in the living room if he stood in just the right position and held them up to go diagonally to the corners of the room.

“Lix!” Seungmin yelled. “Hurry up.”

“My wings are still wet!” he yelled back, stopping by their bedroom to throw his dirty clothes into his hamper. “Give me a second to shake them and I’ll come through!”

It was a poor supplement for the sun’s heat but it was the best solution they had at the minute. Felix retraced the trail of water he had left to the middle of the corridor and flexed his wings out. His flight muscles were getting pretty weak and he would probably have to go back home for a bit soon to get some real flying in if he didn’t have a stock order demanding it. Even standing with his wings open was a strain and he didn’t want to think about what that ache meant. Felix let a shiver run down his back to make his wings shudder and spray the walls with water droplets. That was as good as he would get without help so he hinged them to lie down his back to his feet. 

Each wing was folded roughly twice to fit against his back. The first fold to closing was a hinge about half way along and brought his wing tips (the most fragile part) to rest against his back, tucking under the join to his spine. There were smaller folds, almost like origami, that made up this movement but they happened without him thinking about it. The second movement took more effort when closing his wings and almost none at all when opening them. They folded in half again but this time without hinging and the mid-wing at his calves folded under the more durable basal wing panel. To do that fold Felix had to flex the half-folded wings backwards, almost parallel to the ground. It was not something he could do or wanted to do with wet wings.

Felix was wolf-whistled the second he walked into the living room. Not by the wolf, because Woojin-hyung was tasteful, but by Hyunjin who couldn’t resist complimenting people.

“Nice abs, Lixie,” he said, tugging Felix down beside him.

“Thanks,” Felix grunted, lying directly on top of the other boy. “My wings are damp,” he said to excuse the nudity. With a quick glance around he determined that nobody was in too much danger but pinned Hyunjin’s arms down just in case. “Everybody duck,” Felix warned and opened his wings fully.

“Ah! Who turned off the lights!” Jisung screamed.

“Funny,” Chan said sarcastically. He reached out to massage the top ridge of Felix’s left wing and it felt like bliss.

“More, Channie-hyung,” Felix groaned and Chan complied, pressing his thumbs into tendons that hadn’t felt a stretch like this in too long. Hyunjin had already reached around to ease the pain in Felix’s flight muscles and gradually Felix was able to relax and stop straining to keep his wings at full stretch.

“Can I help?” Changbin asked, crawling out from under his right wing.

“Can you copy Channie-hyung?” Felix asked shyly. He hadn’t intended to get this much attention when he entered the room, only wanting to give his wings slightly more time to air dry before he put them away. This was a welcome addition though, aside from Jisung tickling him.

“This?” Changbin asked, getting to work. Unlike Chan, his hands were warm and came with the added bonus tingle of Felix’s brain yelling _THAT’S BINNIE-HYUNG TOUCHING YOU!_ as if all his nerve endings had relocated to that exact spot.

“Perfect, Binnie-hyung,” Felix replied, trying to keep his thoughts under control. “Sungie, stop before I make you,” he added, sounding as threatening as he could with three simultanious massages turning his bones to jelly.

“I’m helping,” Jisung said, tickling a spot he knew was sensitive. Felix reached out one leg and kicked him. “Ow! What was that for?”

“You’re going to make me twitch,” Felix said. “I’ll deck Channie-hyung.”

“Hehe,” Jeongin giggle somewhere to his left. “Do it, Jisung-hyung.”

“Don’t you dare, Han Jisung,” Chan warned.

Thankfully, Woojin was around and he dropped one giant paw across Jisung’s torso. No amount of wriggling from Jisung would get him free.

“Boo!” Jeongin called, reaching up his hands to trace the veins on Felix’s wing. The thin black cuticle was partially transparent and his veined stood out as they spread out in a spider-like pattern.

“Innie- don’t” Felix warned but he was too slow and his body jerked at the soft touch, his wings sweeping up until they were restricted by the ceiling. Chan yelped as the sturdy joint he had been working on nearly clipped his face and Changbin was knocked back with the gust of air.

Felix was pleased to realise that besides family members he hadn’t knocked anything over. It gave him the confidence to bring his wings back down with the same force. Jisung shrieked and hid his face in Woojin’s fur but Felix giggled with the thrill as his body rose off the ground for a half a second.

“Felix! Not inside!” Chan admonished him. “Put your wings away.”

That wasn’t fair. He hadn’t even broken anything. “But-”

Seungmin reached over, under the cover of Felix’s wing and pinched Felix on the back. It was just the right spot to forcefully half-fold his wings which is why Felix knew it had to be Seungmin that did it.

“Minnie!” he complained.

 _“You’re hogging Hyunjinnie,”_ Seungmin grumbled quietly. “ _Go get your own interest, and a t-shirt.”_

“ _He’s all yours,”_ Felix assured him, fully folding his wings and pushing off Hyunjin’s chest. _“Or should I say half yours?”_

Seungmin raised a fist. It was riskier to use fae to keep secrets these days as not only was Chan fluent but Jisung was learning more to improve his magic. Most worryingly, Jeongin, Hyunjin and Changbin were starting to understand too.

 _“Half?”_ Hyunjin echoed.

“It’s just a joke, Jinnie,” Felix said quickly, standing up to walk over them to Changbin. Changbin was waiting with a smile and zipped one of his own hoodies around Felix before pulling him into a hug.

“What are you trying to do?” Changbin whispered in his ear as Felix settled against his chest.

“They won’t start it themselves,” Felix whispered back. “I’m helping.”

“Helping-helping or Minho-hyung-helping?” Changbin asked, lacing their fingers together in Felix’s lap.

“Minho-hyung’s method worked, didn’t it?” Felix pointed out. “Hyungs fucked and now they’re fine and we’re together too.”

“I’m not giving Minho-hyung the credit for that one,” Changbin said, kissing Felix’s cheek. He was getting bold.

“Yeah, that was all me,” Felix joked, unable to resist pressing his lips to Changbin’s smile now it was so close and his for the taking. “By the way- Chan-hyung and Woojin-hyung gave their familial approval.”

“Hold the fuck up!” Minho’s yell burst the bubble they were in. “When did Changlix happen?”

“CHANGLIX?” Hyunjin yelled. “Did you know about this?” he immediately questioned Seungmin who stared, wide-eyed. “I _trusted_ you.”

“Innie knew too,” Seungmin said, holding up his hands. “And hyungs.”

“I am your _best friend_ Seo Changbin,” Jisung said in mock hurt. “After all we’ve been through together..”

“I haven’t told anybody, Ji,” Changbin rolled his eyes. “Lix told them. I was going to tell you and Minnie-hyung tonight. Promise.”

“Wait a second..” Jisung narrowed his eyes. “ Did you two fuck in a bush?”

 _“NO!”_ Felix said with his whole chest in time with Changbin. “We just kissed,” Felix assured him. “I had to bargain with Binnie-hyung to kiss me before the traditional dwarf waiting period.” He rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness of it but honestly the idea that Changbin had waived it for him meant a lot.

“Ha! Told you Binnie was uptight!” Minho laughed. He was immediately knocked to the ground by Woojin who pinned him next to Jisung. “Not fair!” Minho told the wolf. “He just got his first boyfriend. It’s my duty as his Hyung to mock him.”

“I think it’s cute,” Hyunjin said. “You’re going to get the prettiest engagement ring, Lix.”

Felix thought that was going a bit far. They’d only officially started dating a few hours ago. Changbin however, may have already thought that far as he slipped a finger inside the neck of Felix’s hoodie to put out his family ring that Felix always wore on a chain. He flashed the ring to Hyunjin before dropping it back inside the hoodie. _Wait.. were they already engaged?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thoughts?


	16. Family

Though they had agreed to watch a film it had been a long day for everyone and once everyone had had a shot in the bathroom to brush their teeth and get ready to snuggle up together some people were already dropping off to sleep. Jeongin was curled up under Woojin’s chin, one hand fisted in his dense fur and Jisung had somehow claimed the best spot by Woojin’s belly. 

Seungmin had gotten whiny tired while he waited to brush his teeth and so hadn’t objected like he normally would when Chan draped his arms over the younger boy and started swaying them to a lullaby. Chan had continued while Seungmin brushed his teeth with drooping eyelids before depositing the fae boy into Hyunjin’s waiting arms.

“Sleepy Seungie, sleepy sleepy Seungie,” Hyunjin sang happily as he arranged Seungmin so his head was resting on Hyunjin’s bicep and one knee trapped between his own. The song was a large step down from Chan’s metaphorical lyricism but it had the same effect and Seungmin let himself be manhandled to bed.

“Sorry guys, Shrek will have to wait for another night,” Chan said apologetically as he tucked Seungmin and Hyunjin in. 

“Cuddles, Channie-hyung?” Minho asked, holding his arms open. Woojin growled quietly. “What?” Minho said with false innocence. “You have my regular cuddle buddy. It’s only fair I take yours.”

“Be nice, Jinnie,” Chan told his boyfriend, kissing him between the eyes. “We’re all family, no need to get possessive.” He must have read something in Woojin’s eyes because he held his hand to Woojin’s nose. “See. Still yours. You keep your pups safe, yeah?”

Woojin tended to get a tad overprotective in wolf form since his thoughts couldn’t be as complex and often simpicised to ‘mine’. Chan and Jeongin felt the brunt of the possessiveness but they were all at risk and once Woojin decided you were staying by his side you were not moving. Woojin nudged Jisung closer to him and settled to watch over the rest of them. 

Felix felt that Chan was risking a lot by snuggling up with Minho the way he was. They were spooning under a pile of duvets and Chan was even holding Minho’s hand. Minho looked so much younger when his face relaxed and Chan’s gentle murmurs were sending the boy to sleep.

"Binnie-hyung?" Felix asked quietly, wary of the others sleeping. He and Changbin were next to each other, sharing a pillow and a blanket yet only their knees were touching and he could only faintly make out Changbin’s face in the light from the street. "What does this mean?" He held up Changbin's family ring.

"Do you not remember?" Changbin asked lightly. "It means you belong."

***

Moving to Truailleadh has been difficult for Felix at first. He didn't speak the language, didn't understand the customs and he had had to hide his wings, which had always been a big part of his identity. It had been a struggle but he worked hard because he had friends here and he'd found a purpose in liasoning between the worlds.

However, once Felix had gone on a trip back to A'choille and the time lines had been very different. He'd been gone for over a month while it has been less than a day for him. He'd been scared to cross the skin after that, feeling like he didn't belong to either life, either world, as both moved on without him every time he left.

Changbin had soothed his worry by giving him his family ring, something undeniably from Truailleadh and a reminder that his family would wait for him no matter how long he was away for. That ring kept him grounded more then he would like to admit.

***

"Belong here Truailleadh or belong here Seoul? Felix asked, echoing their earlier conversation.

"Belong here with me," Changbin said, holding Felix's hand to his chest.

"Hyung, does that mean it's an engagement ring?" Felix asked cautiously. "That means 'promise to marry', right?" The fae didn't do engagement or marriage for obvious reasons but he'd watched enough TV to know that it was a big deal here.

"It's not an engagement ring, sunshine." Changbin smiled and reached up to smooth the wrinkles in Felix's brow. "It means you are my family."

"That's kind of the same thing," Felix argued weakly. "And we have a family ring." He held up the simple silver band they all wore.

***

Minho had been gifted with his a few weeks after he arrived and wore it proudly. The rings were Changbin's equivalent of Chan's official adoption and he was generally more hesitant to give them out. However, the way Minho cared for Jisung earned him one almost instantly and Changbin had started work on the ring as soon as Minho moved in. Jisung's 'welcome to the family' gift was to stop trying to fight you and it took longer to for some to get their present than others. Minho again, had been an odd case as even Felix had had to defend himself against the fiery witch.

Changbin's rings were engraved with the words 'I am YOU'. Apparently it was originally supposed to say 'I am with you' but Changbin had been working so hard on the flow of his script the first time he made one that he missed a word. Chan had refused a replacement and so the mistake stuck.

***

“My family wouldn’t recognise a marriage to a fae,” Changbin said. “So while in other cases this might signify a promise of family unity, like an engagement, it doesn’t here.” Changbin sounded slightly saddened by that. “For you, it’s just a promise of protection. If you were to show the ring to any Seo they would help you, even though you are fae. It’s the most I can do to look after you when you travel through the skin alone.”

So it was like an engagement but also far more powerful than that. Changbin had essentially given his entire family a debt to Felix which was insane. The fae would never give one person so much potential. Felix could count the fae he owed a debt to on one hand and even that was considered a risk. Seungmin technically only owed Felix but he was one chocolate milk from being free and he had far more people owing him.

“I can take the ring back if you’d like,” Changbin said. “I really did only mean it as protection and a reminder of home but I don’t want you to feel pressured by wearing it."

"No!" Changbin's family ring was special and it reminded Felix how much Changbin cared for him. "I'm going to keep it forever," Felix vowed, turning over and curling up on his side to protect the ring from it's original owner.

"Ok Lixie." Changbin was amused by his antics and curled around Felix's back, slipping one arm across his waist. "You can keep it forever."

"Go to sleep now guys," Chan's voice rang across the room. 

Felix felt Changbin tense around him. "Stop listening to us!" Changbin whined.

"I have vampire hearing, I can't help it," Chan said. "Woojinnie can hear you too."

“He can stop eavesdropping too,” Changbin said petulantly. 

“Or you can stop having heart-to-heart’s in the middle of a family sleepover,” Chan suggested. “Go out on a date next time.”

“We’re gonna if you even let us both off work at the same time,” Changbin grumbled, lashing out in embarrassment from being caught. Felix squeezed Changbin's hand tightly. A real date sounded fun.

“You can have tomorrow,” Chan promised.

“We’re testing beds for you tomorrow,” Felix reminded him. Felix was not missing that chaos for anything, not even a date with Changbin.

Chan groaned. “Is that really still happening? Someone’s going to get arrested.”

“You’ll bail us out,” Changbin said confidently.

“That’s not the point,” Chan grumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so they're not really engaged but Changbin's not messing about either. Felix is claimed


	17. Mix and Match

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im putting off this mattress shopping because its going to be so difficult to write. I need like a TV montage in word form. Urgh. I'll manage.
> 
> But for now, everyone's favourite werewolf giving 0 shits

“Woojinnnnieee, shift back,” Chan wheedled his wolf boyfriend, lying across his back. The kids had all gotten up and were well on their way to being ready for the day but Chan was still in his boxers from the day before, hair comically frizzy as he tried to convince Woojin to return to his parenting role. Woojin shrugged one huge shoulder and Chan slid off him. 

“He says ‘no’,” Jeongin informed Chan.

“Thanks, Innie. I got that.” Chan picked himself off the floor and tried again. Woojin was immoveable.

“He still says ‘no’.” Jeongin was sitting on the couch eating his breakfast as he watched their antics. He'd spilt milk from his cereal down his pyjamas but didn't seem to want to leave the room to do something about it.

“Please, Jinnie,” Chan begged. “I _need_ you.” He had crawled on top of Woojin and leant over his head to press his forehead to Woojin’s snout and stare him in the eyes. It was having absolutely no effect on Woojin’s resolve. Woojin shook him off again and opened his jaws in a yawn around Chan’s head.

“So when are we leaving for the mattress store?” Jisung asked, already prepared with a baseball cap and mask disguise. 

“Jinnnnie,” Chan whined with more urgency, lifting up Woojin’s paw and shaking it. “We can’t let them go alone.”

Woojin blew air out of his nostrils into Chan’s face. 

“Jinnie. Seriously.” Chan looked ridiculous squishing the cheeks of a giant wolf in order to force eye contact. “Your pups are going to start a fire in the middle of a shopping centre.”

Woojin got up, slipping from Chan's grip with ease and headbutted an unsuspecting Jisung, pinning him down and licking a stripe up his face so powerful it knocked off his cap. He turned back to Chan.

“Keeping Sungie back is not a solution!” Chan said exasperatedly. If he wasn’t careful the rest of the kids would be ready and sneak off without him.

“Seems a pretty solid plan to me,” Minho commented.

“You’re supposed to be on my side!” Jisung complained. He knew by now that there was no point fighting Woojin, it would only tire him out. Instead he accepted the fluffy cuddles while he got them.

“You do cause a lot of fires when you’re excited, Sungie,” Minho pointed out.

“And Hyunjin sticks to walls when he’s nervous,” Jisung retorted. “Nobody’s perfect.”

“So,” Minho said, seeing Chan was losing the will to fight. “Can we get the shop credit card?”

“I’m not giving you control of that much money,” Chan told him.

“Why not? I’m responsible,” Minho said. Felix was pretty sure that was a lie as he had once seen Minho only refrain from bringing a shelter cat home because he’d forgotten ID. They hadn’t even gone out to buy a cat, Minho had just taken a seemingly random detour into the shelter and fallen in love.

“So responsible I trust you to write down the name and price of whatever you decide on and bring it back to me so I can buy it online.” Chan said sweetly, tugging lightly on his boyfriend's tail.

“That’s pretty smart, Hyung,” Seungmin said. “Looks like that sleep is really doing things for you.” Chan chased him out of the room.

The room was silent for a few seconds until Jisung decided he’s had enough of being pinned down. “Also, we were planning on knocking down the wall between the living room and the dining room and replacing the table,” he told Woojin proudly. 

Woojin stared at him and then let the young witch up.

“Freedom!” Jisung crowed. “Let’s go lesbians, let’s go!” Woojin knocked him down again, giving himself just enough time to shift back. The sight was weird but it was over quickly enough that unless you were staring directly at Woojin as he did it you'd miss it. The sound however, the sound was horrible and inescapable. Felix got the shivers every time.

“No knocking down the walls,” Woojin said gruffly once he was done, lying face down and buck naked.

“I could have told them that,” Jeongin said. He wouldn't have though. He'd started testing the boundaries of Chan and Woojin's patience and years of observing the others' techniques had made him something of an expert. He'd not been yelled at once for it yet, even when blatantly ignoring a command. Currently, he had finished his cereal and was sitting biting the spoon absently as he observed them all from the back of the couch. Collecting data.

“Jisung,” Woojin said. “No knocking down walls, do you hear me?” 

Jisung pulled a face and jammed his cap back onto his head. 

“And where’s Binnie?” Woojin was slightly groggy from his shift and he frowned as he tried to get his bearings again. He’d need food soon or he’d pass out. Thankfully there were still snacks from the night before and Felix chucked him a packet of jelly worms that Woojin did not manage to catch.

Changbin was the only with any sort of structural engineering background and even they weren’t dumb enough to start smashing walls without an expert to tell them which bits were holding up the roof. While it might seem that Jisung that got all the crazy ideas he wasn't always the one with the initial spark. He just had the tendency to snowball things into a much bigger, crazier mess and get everyone involved. Woojin was right to think the walls idea was Changbin’s but they had caught him when he was vulnerable and if all went well Woojin would forget about it before he could stop them.

“Binnie’s getting dressed,” Minho said, rolling his eyes. Changbin was always the slowest to get ready and there was a good chance Jeongin would still be ready before him even though the shifter boy hadn’t even started getting dressed.

“Woojinnie!” Chan cried happily, coming back with Seungmin slung over his shoulder. “You’re back!”

“I never left,” Woojin grumbled, biting the head off a jelly snake. “The kids are planning on knocking down that wall,” he informed Chan, gesturing behind him. Chan put down Seungmin who immediately skipped over to terrorise Jeongin.

“Binnie! No knocking down walls without permission!” Chan yelled over his shoulder.

“I need that door anyway!” Changbin yelled back. “And the wall is blocking natural light!” There was a pause. “Also, who stole my pink vans!?”

Felix looked down to his own feet. Several pairs of eyes followed his. “Not me!” Felix replied confidently.

“Are you _sure_ you’re fae?” Jisung asked him. “That was a straight-up lie.”

“Do you think these wings are glued on?” Felix replied. Rhetorical questions were as close to sarcasm as he could get but it was very effective. “And technically I’m _borrowing_ , not stealing.” He shot finger guns at Jisung who was frowning at the fae logic. He was exceptionally bad at understanding it.

“You are going to _love_ The BFG, Lix,” Hyunjin said, having just slipped past Chan into the room, made up like he was going to a catwalk. His shirt was half-tucked into his jeans and his long hair was somehow swept away from his face to show off the sparkling earrings in his ears. Black clothes and silver jewellry and a walk that said he knew exactly what he was doing to people. They were only going mattress shopping.

 _Wasn’t The BFG the book about giants? What did that have to do with stealing shoes?_ Felix asked Hyunjin as much.

Hyunjin flopped down on the couch and draping his arm around Seungmin. Seungmin fought it as it prevented him bothering the maknae but Hyunjin held tight until Seungmin finally relaxed.

 _“Permanent_ borrowing,” Hyunjin told Felix with a grin.

 _Oh, this sounded like a very informative book._ “Channie-hyung, can you read me The BFG?”

“Uh, I think I only have it in English,” Chan replied distractedly, helping Woojin up as the werewolf wrapped a blanket around himself. “I’ll have a look for it later.” 

***

Incredibly, Changbin was ready before Woojin. But in fairness, Woojin had had to add 'rearranging the atoms of his entire body' to his morning routine and that would slow most people down. It didn’t slow Jeongin down who decided that instead of picking out which clothes to wear he would just shift to be a yellow labrador but Jeongin was a special case.

“You’re wearing my shoes,” Changbin said as he joined them in the living room.

“They match my jumper,” Felix replied, smiling sweetly.

“If I was wearing them we could match each other,” Changbin pointed out. 

"One each?" Felix suggested and Changbin kicked off one of his black vans eagerly.

"You two are _sickening,"_ Jisung told them enthusiastically.


	18. A Good Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you guys really liked the matching shoes huh? Well now its a recurring plot point
> 
> (edit: accidentally missed a bit off the start of this chapter. gotta give minho more lines that arent minsung. hes better than that)

“Lix,” Minho hissed. “Stop it.”

“Stop what?” Felix asked. They were waiting for the subway and Felix had been holding Changbin’s hand the entire time. It was exhilarating. He hoped the train would be busy So he’d have the excuse to be even closer.

Minho pressed a hand firmly against Felix’s back and suddenly there was resistance on his wings. He hadn’t even realised he’d started to open them.

“Oops,” he giggled, pulling them back into his body. “Get them under control or I’ll tie a jumper around your waist to restrict them,” Minho warned teasingly. It was a hot day so Felix was only wearing a t-shirt but the movement under his shirt could easily the result of subway tunnel wind. They had nothing to worry about. Still, it was best not to draw human attention to their group too much.

“I’ve got it, Hyung,” Felix assured Minho.

They managed to be fairly inconspicuous on the subway. No fires, no wings, no tentacles, no foreign tongues. If there had been it probably would have gone unnoticed anyway because Jeongin was a puppy on public transport. A very large puppy but still a puppy and undeniably cute. Legally, he had to be in a fully covered pet carrier but with Jisung’s skill for erasing and manipulating memories they could bend the rules a bit.

Jeongin got zipped into Chan’s hoodie, his big puppy paws over Chan’s shoulders. Chan sat at the end of a row of seats so Jeongin could still look around the carriage and the others gathered near him so that nobody could complain of being forced to be close to a dog. Felix couldn't see how anyone would want to be anywhere else. Dogs were brilliant and Jeongin was the best dog in the world.

“Why couldn’t you have used your hare form?” Jisung asked as he had to divert the attention of yet another staff member.

“A hare is a prey animal,” Woojin pointed out. “He would have freaked out as soon as we left the house.”

“One of the others then,” Jisung suggested. “The armadillo.”

“You wouldn’t even have to hide him,” Hyunjin pointed out. “‘Oh this?" He pointed to an imaginary armadillo rolled up under his arm. "No, no. I’m just off to a foot volleyball match.’”

Jeongin let out a very quiet but indignant “boof.”

“Quiet Innie,” Chan said, rubbing Jeongin’s ear to calm him. “Don’t bother the nice people.”

Jeongin whined lowly. He hated being held still for long periods of time and they still had quite a lot of stops to go. The ingrained labrador need to please Chan was probably all that was preventing him from wriggling out of the hoodie.

“Good boy,” Seungmin cooed, leaning over to stroke all over Jeongin’s head and distract him from the situation. “Best boy, Innie. Such a cute puppy.” Felix could hear Jeongin’s tail thumping against Chan’s side.

“Your dog is very big,” a young girl said shyly from across the seats. She was dressed in a yellow sundress and held her mother’s hand like a lifeline.

“Are you scared of big dogs?” Jisung asked her. “He’s a very nice dog, not scary at all.” There weren't many large dogs in the city since there wasn't much space to house and exercise them and neighbours would often complain. Woojin's mum did have a point when she said werewolves didn't belong in the city.

The girl looked up at Jeongin warily. “What’s his name?”

“Jeongin,” Chan told her. “But we call him Innie.” Hyunjin found this hilarious and hid behind Woojin as he started cracking up.

“That’s not a good name for a dog,” the girl said with a frown, getting bolder. More people in the carriage were watching the interaction now in that side-ways glance way that everyone used on public transport.

“What’s a good name for him then?” Seungmin asked and grinned wickedly at Jeongin.

“Lucky,” the girl decided. “That’s a dog’s name.”

“Ah, well we can’t call him that,” Minho told the little girl with exaggerated disappointment. “This boy is already called ‘Lucky.’” He dropped a hand onto the top of Felix’s head. Felix was going to kill him the second they got off this train. Changbin squeezed Felix’s hand and smiled when their eyes met. Felix was still going to kill Minho once they got off the train.

“Why did your mummy name you Lucky?” the girl asked.

“Yuna,” Her mother scolded her. “Don’t be rude.”

“It’s fine,” Felix told her with a smile. It wasn’t Yuna’s fault she was curious. “My name is Felix,” he said to Yuna, pronouncing the word carefully. “It means ‘lucky’ in English.”

“Why isn’t your name Korean?” Yuna asked. It just wasn’t Felix’s lucky day.

“His name in Korean is Yongbok,” Changbin said proudly. Wow, not even a day as his boyfriend and Felix was already betrayed. Felix's hit list was getting longer.

“That’s a funny name,” Yuna said. “You should be called Jeongin and your dog can be called Yongbok.”

Hyunjin had knelt down, unable to keep himself standing with the amount he was laughing and he had to hold onto Woojin's ankle to stop himself rolling away as the train turned a corner.

"I'm going to stick with Felix," Felix told Yuna.

Yuna frowned disapproving. "Ok," she said. It reminded Felix of Woojin. Changbin made eye contact with Jisung and started giggling. Felix dug his nails into the back of Changbin's hand as a warning for him to stop but Changbin was too far gone.

"We have to get off now, Yuna," her mother leant down to tell her. "Say goodbye to the nice men."

"Bye bye Yongbok and Yongbok's friends and Yongbok's puppy," Yuna said. They waved back and her mother herded her off the train along with the rush of people.

Woojin moved quickly to take the vacated seats, dragging Hyunjin up with him.

"Behave you lot," he said as the train started moving again. "It wasn't that funny."

The others disagreed and Changbin had to let go of Felix's hand at out point to wipe the tears from his eyes.

"Give me the pink shoe back," Felix said crossly, toeing off his black one and standing on Changbin's heel. "You don't deserve to match me anymore." He wasn't that upset but it wasn't doing great things to his self-esteem to have everyone laughing at his name.

"No no!" Changbin cried out, trying to wriggle his foot back into his shoe and grabbing onto Felix. "I'm sorry, Jeongin. I won't do it again!"

"YA!" Felix raised his shoe.

"Aww, it's their first fight," Jisung said, snapping a picture. "What a special day."

"Can you just call me Felix," Felix asked, tired of the joking. "Please."

"Only some of the time, sunshine," Changbin said, giving up on his shoe and pulling Felix into a hug. "I'm sorry, Lixie. It was a joke," he whispered and Felix felt him press a kiss into his hair.

"It's fine," Felix admitted grudgingly. "I see why it's funny."

"Urgh, you made up immediately," Jisung pulled a face in disgust as he angled his phone for a selfie with Felix and Changbin in the background. Minho held him steady by the neck of his hoodie as the train braked and then had to adjust very quickly to prevent Jisung headbutting a pole. Jisung was unaware, too focused on checking the quality of his shots.

"Why are you taking photos?" Felix asked, leaning into Changbin's side.

"I'm documenting your relationship, Yongbok," Jisung said. He hadn't promised to stop teasing but Felix kind of expected that from him. It wasn't so bad when they said his Korean name normally. "It's my duty as your future best man," Jisung added. Not this again.

"Who says I'd pick you?" Felix said.

"Changbinnie-hyung would pick me," Jisung said confidently. "I'm his best friend."

"I'd pick Channie-hyung," Changbin said. _Ha. Serves Jisung right for calling him Yongbok._ Felix tried to focus on the warm feeling of justice and not the mention of his own hypothetical wedding.

"That's great Binnie," Chan said wearily. They hadn't even got to the shop yet. "Can you put your shoes back on now? We're on the subway."

Changbin reached for the black shoe in Felix's hand, silently admitting he had done wrong. Felix quickly jammed it on his own foot. "We need to match," Felix told him. "Make sure you double knot your laces." Changbin grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anybody seeing a flaw in their plan yet? 
> 
> also i think inminjin is featured in the next chapter


	19. Find a rat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chan has trained us well. I got so many double knot lyric comments
> 
> Now for a longer chapter with so much nonsense I can't even explain

“Quick question,” Woojin said once they were back on the street. Seungmin was winding Jeongin up by trying to get him to catch his fist in his mouth and people were making a wide berth around them to avoid it. 

“Yeah?” Chan asked, sliding his hand into Woojin’s back pocket. He’d reverted to Lovestruck Chan since they made up and if Woojin was talking he was as good as useless.

“What are we doing about Innie not being allowed in the store?” Woojin asked. Silence fell over the group.

“I _knew_ I forgot something,” Minho said. “The guide dog vest!”

“You have a guide dog vest?” Changbin asked him.

Minho shrugged. “I thought it would be useful.”

“Innie can shift back,” Hyunjin suggested.

“Where?” Seungmin pointed out. “We’re in the middle of the city and no shop is going to let him in. Not to mention that he doesn’t have any clothes.

“Down a side alley,” Jisung suggested. “He could shift to the armadillo and go in someone’s hood.

Jeongin growled. 

“That’s a no,” Woojin needlessly translated. “You can’t restrict him like that. How about Channie and I take him to a cafe that allows dogs and you lot go cause chaos as planned? Unless you’ve got a better plan Innie?”

Jeongin barked excitedly and Woojin closed his eyes like he was using all his willpower to stay calm. He probably was. 

“What’d he say?” Seungmin asked. 

Woojin opened his eyes. “He wants to find a rat.” He then turned to give Jeongin a very disappointed look. “When I said I would help you with shifting this summer, this is not what I meant."

Jeongin tucked his tail between his legs and Hyunjin knelt down to hug him. “You made him sad, Hyung.” Hyunjin pouted. Jeongin licked his chin.

“There are a million things wrong with that plan,” Woojin pointed out. “And he knows that.”

“Name them,” Minho challenged him.

“What?”

“Name the things that could go wrong,” Minho said.

“1. Find a rat.” Wooin said.

“There’s three down the alley behind us,” Chan said. He tilted his head to one side. “No, wait. Two, and a litter in the dumpster.”

“Creepy,” Jisung grinned. “Sometimes I forget you have like crazy good hearing.”

“You forget all the time, Sung,” Chan replied. “But lucky for you I normally tune it out.”

“What have you heard?” Changbin asked hesitantly. Felix’s brain took the opportunity to reply as many of his embarrassing moments as possibly. Many of them came with sound.

“So many things,” Chan whispered looking as scarred as Felix felt.

“Gonna do a Control Alt Delete on you later,” Jisung threatened weakly, waggling his fingers in Chan’s face.

“Gonna Control Alt Delete the notebook under your bed,” Chan countered and Jisung froze.

“On second thought, you can keep your memories,” Jisung squeaked.

“So kind of you,” Chan replied with a smirk. “Now, Jinnie. What’s the next thing in this plan?”

“It’s not supposed to be a plan,” Woojin argued. Chan smiled brightly at him and he gave in. “Step 2: Catch the rat.”

“Presume I’ve done that,” Chan said confidently. “Next.”

“Innie has to shift back and get the rat calm enough to learn it’s form. But I don’t really know much about that bit works since I’ve never had to do it.”

Felix there when Jeongin had gotten his dog form. It hadn’t seemed that difficult. Jeongin had patted the dog and by the time Felix had finished his cake Jeongin said he was done.

“It didn’t take too long the last time he did it,” Felix offered. 

Jeongin wriggled in Hyunjin’s arms and made a bid for the alleyway.

“There are still more things to go wrong,” Woojin called after him but Jeongin was already sniffing out the rats.

“You’ve scared off the adults, Innie,” Chan told him, following him into the alley. “I’ll need to get one of the babies for you.”

Hyunjin gasped. “A baby?” Minho forcefully turned him around so it wasn’t as obvious there was something interesting happening in the alley. With seven of them they could block it off pretty well and just have it look like they were staying out of the way of foot traffic while they waited for someone.

“A baby rat,” Seungmin said, looking disgusted. 

“They’re so cute though when they get their eyes open and they’re all fluffy,” Hyunjin cooed and patted an imaginary rat.

Felix had never seen a rat and this was very conflicting information. He subtly pulled out his phone and began to search as the others argued about whether or not rats were cute. Changbin watched over his shoulder and clicked on a photo for him.

“The ones on the street can be pretty diseased though,” Changbin warned him as Felix awed at the tiny fluffy animal. “Channie-hyung’s gonna get the plague or something.” 

Felix didn’t know what the plague was but Chan was now standing in the dumpster and he’d certainly caught _something._ He held it out to Jeongin who stood on his hind legs to sniff at it.

“I don’t know them,” Woojin muttered, pointed staring across the street. Unfortunately for him Hyunjin broke away from their group to go see the baby rat.

“It’s so tiny!” he whispered, taking it from Chan as the vampire clambered back out of the dumpster. “Seungminnie, come look! It’s really cute.” Seungmin went hesitantly.

“Jisungie,” Woojin said and he didn’t even have to finish his sentence.

“Already on it,” Jisung muttered. “Empty alley, empty alley, nothing exciting. Boring, boring, boring.” he muttered to himself as he stared intently at anybody that paused a little too long in front of them. His eyes hadn’t even changed; manipulating emotions really was his specialty.

“Everyone’s face goes blank when they go past,” Minho noticed. “Watch this guy.” He subtly pointed to a man stomping down the street having a very angry phone call. When he got with five feet of Jisung his frown slackened and he paused mid-rant. A few steps later he shook his head as if he was waking up from a dream and and continued his yelling.

“It’s easier to make people bored,” Jisung said. “Changing their focus or wiping their memory is too hard from here. This way even if they do look down the alley they won’t care.”

“Why aren’t we bored then?” Changbin asked. “I’m standing right next to you and I am _very_ excited to be holding Felix’s hand.” 

“TMI, dude,” Jisung said. Meanwhile, Felix was practically vibrating with happiness. “I know what your mind feels like so I’ve put one of those bubbles around you,” Jisung said, still watching the street. “Continue being gross and I will take your bubble away.”

“Sounds difficult,” Minho said, ruffling Jisung’s hair.

Jisung swatted him away. “It is. Don’t distract me.”

Felix looked into the alley to see Jeongin shifted back and drowning in Chan’s hoodie. Hyunjin seemed to be teaching him how to hold the rat or something and Seungmin was failing miserably at pretending not to be interested. After a few seconds Hyunjin stepped away and Jeongin closed his eyes, looking like he was praying to the tiny creature in his hands.

“Is Innie really going to become that small?” Felix asked, tugging on Changbin’s hand to get his attention.

“Probably.” Changbin sounded unconvinced. “Depends how big that rat would be fully grown and what percent grown Jeongin is currently.”

“About 95%?” Felix guessed. Jeongin was taller than most of them and wasn’t he nearly adult age? Surely that meant he was mostly grown.

“I’d say 98%,” Changbin said. “He’s not allowed to get much taller.”

“Just because you’re short, Binnie, doesn’t mean everyone else has to be,” Minho teased him, having eavesdropped on their conversation since Jisung was concentrating on something else.

“I am tall for a dwarf!” Changbin said crossly.

"Congratulations," Minho deadpanned. "What if Innie is only at like 70% and he grows to be 7 feet tall?"

"Then he's cheating," Changbin said. "You have to measure him when he's sleeping and all his alts wear off."

"You sound like you’ve got issues there, Hyung," Jisung teased, still looking forward. "Wanna talk about it."

"Shut up," Changbin grumbled. "Focus on what you're doing."

"I am focused." Jisung retorted. "Are they nearly done? This is getting tiring."

“Dunno,” Minho said and then screamed. “Ah! Innie disappeared," he told Jisung. "Hopefully it’s a good thing.”

Jisung tried to turn and look but Woojin turned him back. “Now is definitely the time we don’t want anyone to see," he told him sternly. Jisung whined but keep working. 

Hyunjin and Seungmin returned first with matching grins. Hyunjin draped himself over Seungmins back and carefully slotted his hand into Seungmin’s hoodie pocket. The pocket wriggled. Chan joined them a minute later, out of breath and arms on full display.

“All clear?” Jisung asked, his concentration waning.

“All done!” Chan said cheerfully. “Good job with the distraction, Sungie.”

Jisung let out a sigh of relief and turned to face the group. “I’ve never concentrated so long in my life,” he exclaimed.

“It was like 10 minutes,” Seungmin frowned. “I thought you’d been to school.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t pay attention,” Jisung scoffed. “Now show me tiny Innie!”

“He’s pretty shy,” Hyunjin warned. “I don’t know if he’ll want to come out of Minnie’s pocket yet. The pocket wriggled and the tiniest little face poked out and squeaked before hiding again. 

Felix gasped. “He’s _tiny.”_

“Cute, isn’t he,” Chan grinned and latched onto Woojin. “Hopefully once he’s got a better hold of the rat brain he’ll come out and say hi.”

“He says he's ok,” Woojin said reassuringly. “Outside has a lot of dangers for a rat so he’s just got to work past his instincts to come out in the open.” 

Felix hoped that would be soon because his own instincts were telling him to smother the tiny creature in love. 

“Channie, where’s your hoodie?” Woojin asked as Minho started making squeaking noises at Jeongin.

“Where it belongs,” Chan grimaced. “It got dumpster juice on it.”

“By that reasoning we should just leave you in the dumpster too,” Woojin said, pulling Chan off of him. “You smell awful.”

Chan sniffed his arm. “I think I’m fine.”

Woojin wrinkled his nose. “You’re not. Walk downwind of me.”

“Baby, no,” Chan whined but Woojin had already moved away from him.

“Should have thought of that before you went dumpster diving,” Woojin retorted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow that was so much dialogue I hope it made sense.
> 
> ITTY BITTY INNIE AHHHH! I can do so much with this yes


	20. They like to bite things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this in like 20 minutes at midnight so idk if this is well done

“Innie’s eating my hoodie,” Seungmin whined. He took the hem of his jumper and shook it slightly. “Stoooop.”

“He’s a rat,” Hyunjin said matter-of-factly. “They like to chew things.”

“But I don’t want him to eat my jumper.” Seungmin shook his pocket again and Jeongin squeaked from inside. “Get a hold of your brain already,” he told him crossly.

“He’ll be nervous even if it does smell like you,” Hyunjin said. “Give him your finger to nibble.”

 _“No!_ ” Seungmin said, horrified. “I’m not going to let him eat _me.”_

“He won’t _eat_ you.” Hyunjin rolled his eyes. He pushed Seungmin to the side of the pavement and pulled Jeongin out, holding him up to Seungmin’s eye level. Jeongin screeched in Seungmin’s direction.

“Yeah, I’m not happy about this either,” Seungmin grumbled and looked away.

The rest of them had to stop while Seungmin argued with a rat since he was the only one with a pocket large enough to hold Jeongin. They really should have factored Seungmin’s obsession with neatness into this plan but then if they had considered that they wouldn’t have had to do an emergency species change in an alleyway.

“See.” Hyunjin offered his finger to Jeongin. “It’s fine. And Innie’s going to stop biting things soon, aren’t you?”

Jeongin squeaked and they turned to Woojin for translation.

“He says he likes biting things so I wouldn’t bet on it,” Woojin sighed. “If you’d let me name all the issues that would have been one of them.”

“Don’t pretend you know everything, Hyung,” Minho scoffed. “You hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

“I had,” Woojin said, his tone indicating that this wasn’t an argument Minho should start. “And I am really tempted to turn around and go home now.”

“What about your bed?” Felix asked.

“I can buy one online,” Woojin said, shrugging. “I’ve slept on the ground most of my life, how soft the mattress is really won’t bother me.”

“But what about Channie-hyung?” Changbin asked and crumbled Woojin’s resolve in seconds. You could see it in his eyes- he was a sucker for Chan. “That’s what I thought,” Changbin said smugly. “You’re not getting out of this.”

“Damn it, Channie,” Woojin grumbled.

“What did _I_ do?” Chan asked defensively.

“Now I have to help them,” Woojin said, walking over to where Hyunjin was cooing over Jeongin. Jeongin was getting better with touch already and he wasn’t actively trying to escape. Woojin took Jeongin from Hyunjin and held him by the scruff of his neck. “No biting Seungmin’s clothes. Act like a rat and I will treat you like one.” Jeongin tried to escape but Woojin held him tight. “What will it be, Innie?”

Jeongin squeaked and Felix could hear the defeat in it. Thank Terra the people of Seoul were much less nosy than the fae. Back home Felix would be earning from just witnessing an exchange like this.

“Good choice,” Woojin told Jeongin and dropped him back into Seungmin’s pocket. “Can we get to this shop already so we can leave sooner.”

Despite Woojin being a damper on the mood, Felix was still very excited about this trip. As the shop came into sight he let go of Changbin’s had and grinned at Jisung who was grinning back. Oh, they were definitely going to cause chaos. One step in the building and he went left, Jisung went right and Minho went dead straight, rolling over the bed in his way. Yes, they had already determined which ones were within their price range and had a set few to compare, but also there was no harm in bouncing on all of the expensive ones first. 

Felix didn’t look back as he skipped off. First they had to lose the parents and then they had to distract any staff that cared from each other. The original plan had the seven of them split up but six would be enough. As long as they kept moving Seungmin had reckoned they had ten minutes of bouncing before they got told off. Felix wasn’t very good at tracking the time so his aim was just to hit as many beds as possible.

Their downfall was a remote-controlled bed. Hyunjin found it first and the little sign that proclaimed ‘Test Me!’ and they were a man down. Everyone knows that you will not evade capture by lying down. But while the rest of them were getting glares, Hyunjin was quite literally putting his feet up. Felix loved technology and he too caved. 

Chan found them all crammed on the bed together. Changbin had been the last to arrive and made the mistake of lying face-down and now was being bent at unnatural angles, muffling his screams in Jisung’s stomach. Chan plucked the remote from MInho’s hand and returned the bed to it’s default state.

“Get out,” he said with a sigh. “You know we can’t afford this.”

“It said ‘Test Me!’,” Hyunjin protested as he rolled out last.

“Yes, if you intend to _buy it,_ ” Chan said, patting down Jisung’s hair.

“It didn’t specify!” Hyunjin argued.

“Just show me the right ones,” Chan sighed. 

“Which frame can withstand the highest force?” Changbin asked when an employee noticed they seemed to be serious about making a purchase and came over to help.

The employee’s eyes widened at the blunt question. “Uhh,” he fumbled. “All our models are strong enough for the uh, standard activities.”

Minho giggled and Chan hid his face in his hands.

“I ask because we have a rather large dog,” Changbin said seriously. Minho completely lost composure and Hyunjin had to walk away. “He’s not trained incredibly well so we need a frame that will withstand him jumping onto the bed.”

Felix risked a glance back at Woojin. Changbin was going to die. Quite possibly before they even left the store. Felix was already calculating how many strawberries he would get for this. It depended on how Woojin murdered him but he was probably up to a punnet already.

“Ah, I see,” the employee laughed nervously. “You would be best to avoid wooden slats then-” Felix tuned him out, already bored. Maybe he could get a few more bed bounces in while they were distracted.

“Lix,” Seungmin hissed, tugging urgently on his arm. “I’ve lost Innie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anybody see Solar's bed?


	21. Mousetraps

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it should be obvious by now but whole sentences quoted in italics is speaking in Fae. So for the first bit of this chapter, thats the language

“You lost Innie?” Felix echoed. The others had wandered off after the employee. _Had he heard him right? “You lost Innie?”_

“ _Yes, I lost Innie,”_ Seungmin said crossly, unable to stand still. “ _Can you help me find him? I’m worried this place has mousetraps.”_

 _“Mousetraps?”_ Felix asked.

Jisung had said that the internet could teach you everything but this was the second thing in a day he didn’t know about. First rats and now mousetraps. Were mousetraps bigger animals that would eat Innie? Felix couldn’t see anywhere they could be hiding. Maybe they were like snakes. Snakes were big but along-the-ways big and they would definitely fit under some of these beds. He really hoped a snake hadn’t eaten Innie.

 _“Yes, will you stop just copying what I’m saying and help.”_ Seungmin huffed.

Felix knew that Seungmin wasn’t really mad at him. He was just scared and didn’t like not knowing what to do. Felix was always calmer in these situations and he was great at making plans.

 _“Ok, where did you have him last?”_ Felix asked. It was a big store. If they could narrow down an area to search they had a better chance of finding Jeongin. Hopefully Jeongin wouldn’t be far and he might even come if they called for him.

 _“I don’t know? That folding bed? I had him there.”_ Seungmin whirled around to march back over to it and Felix had to jog to keep up. “ _He’s not here,”_ Seungmin said as soon as they arrived at the bed. The panic had really set in. _“He’s not here. Where is he?”_

 _“Minnie, **calm down** ,”_ Felix told him, stopping Seungmin from marching off again. “ _You’ve not even looked.”_ Felix crouched down and looked under the bed. He could only see dust. _“Innie? Are you here?”_ There was no reply.

 _“What if he went home?”_ Seungmin said. _“What if he’s already dead?”_

_“He’s not-”_

“Hello boys, can I help you?” a different employee asked them with a fake smile. A smile that said ‘what the fuck are you doing?’ Felix had seen that smile on a lot of people.

“Hi, sorry,” Felix smiled winningly and stood up, switching back to Korean and putting on his best accent. People always trusted you more if you sounded like them. “My friend lost a ring.” It would be easier to convince the guy if he could spin a better lie but that was the best he could do. Felix looked to Seungmin for help.

“We can look by ourselves,” Seungmin added. “I’m not even sure it will be here I just wanted to check. Our Dad is the guy over there,” he pointed towards the others where Chan had stepped up to the till. “I wanted to look quickly to see if I could find it before telling him it was lost.”

The employee laughed sympathetically. “Yeah, I know what that’s like. Do you need me to act as a distraction?”

Felix’s felt a tickle at his ankle and looked down, resisting the reflex to kick to get whatever was touching him away. A tiny black furry body was trying to climb up his jeans. Never before had the decision to wear skinny jeans had such life or death consequences. His jeans were so skinny he didn’t even have real pockets! _Schist faults, how the fuck was he going to hide Innie?_

Felix nudged Jeongin under the nearest display with his foot and crouched down.  
“I don’t have anywhere to hide you,” he whispered to Jeongin. “Get in Minnie’s pocket. We won’t leave without you.” Jeongin’s intelligent eyes blinked back at him. Felix twisted a ring off his finger and hid it next to Jeongin. He really hoped this would work.

“Minnie! I found the ring!” Felix called. “Can you get it? I can’t reach.”

“The ring?” Seungmin asked, puzzled.

_By Terra, it was like he’d never attempted subterfuge before and Felix knew it was something Seungmin excelled at. He must be really worried._

“Yes, the ring,” Felix said. _**“Innie,** ”_ he added as Seungmin stared blankly.

“That’s great!” the employee said. “I’ve got long arms- maybe I can reach.”

Seungmin dived under the bed in front of him. “It’s fine, I’ve got it!” Felix watched and Jeongin raced into Seungmin’s hoodie as Seungmin took Felix’s ring. He held out the ring to the employee as the man crouched down to help. “I’ve got it!”

They scrambled up and Felix saw Woojin frowning at them from the door. The others were all huddled just outside. “We’ve got to go now!” he said cheerily, tugging on Seungmin’s arm. “Thanks! Bye!”

“Oh my god, Innie I am so sorry,” Seungmin implored, cradling the pocket of his hoodie up to his chest as they hurried over to their family. “I’m really really sorry. Don’t tell Dads I lost you, I’ll do anything. Do you hear that? I’ll owe you.”

Woojin’s frown deepened as they got closer. “Are you boys alright?”

“We’re great!” Seungmin said with far too much enthusiasm.

Woojin narrowed his eyes. He could probably smell the bullshit. “It’s just that Innie-” Seungmin tensed as if electrocuted “-is saying he’s about to suffocate.” Woojin finished.

“Oh!” Seungmin relaxed his grip on the rat. “Sorry Innie. I can put my hood up and you can go on my shoulder?” he offered. Woojin nodded for Jeongin and turned to lead them out of the shop.

Seungmin drifted after him as he attempted to pull his hood up with one hand and get a hold of Jeongin with the other.

“Here. Let me help,” Felix offered. He got to hold Jeongin for the first time. The rat form really was tiny, even more than he looked at first, and Felix could nearly fit one hand around him.  
“You’re so little, Innie,” Felix told him and pressed a quick kiss to his head before placing him carefully on Seungmin’s shoulder. “Is that safe enough for you? We don’t want you to fall again.” He grinned brightly, knowing Seungmin was still slightly shaken. Jeongin squeaked happily and curled tightly into Seungmin’s neck.

“Tickles,” Seungmin said but hunched up his shoulder to keep Jeongin more secure. “Hold tight, Innie,” he warned before hurrying to catch up again. Felix ran ahead. While he couldn’t share his adventure he was sure at least Changbin would have a fun story to tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm looking forward to innie shifting back now so he can tell us his adventures :)


	22. The best what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> loving Woojin hours are OPEN
> 
> (as if they were ever closed lol)

"Did you get a good bed, Hyungie?" Felix asked as he caught up to Woojin first and slipped his hand into his. Woojin tightened his grip immediately and bent his elbow to make it more comfortable for Felix.

"Channie liked it and I should be able to sleep on it as a wolf which will be nice." Woojin replied. In their current bedroom there wasn't even space for Woojin on the floor.

"You should thank Changbinnie-hyung," Felix teased and Woojin gave him the side-eye.

"He called me an untrained dog,"Woojin said. "He can be grateful if I don't eat him for dinner "

"Hyungie noooo," Felix whined, hanging off Woojin's arm. "I only just got Binnie-hyung to kiss me, you can't eat him now."

Woojin gave a long-suffering sigh. "Fine, I won't eat him this time." Felix perked up and smiled so brightly his eyes closed for a second, trusting Woojin not to walk him into a wall. Woojin pulled him into a side hug. "The things I do for you, Lixie."

"You're the best, Hyungie!" Felix exclaimed.

"The best what?" Woojin teased him as they turned towards the subway entrance.

Felix hadn’t even thought of a condition when he’s said it but Woojin was right that Felix had to have specifics to allow him to say that.

“Am I the best Dad?” Woojin whispered. “You can tell me Lixie.”

Felix giggled and wriggled out of his grip. Woojin would no doubt brag to Chan immediately if Felix admitted that.

“The best Woojinnie-hyung!” Felix laughed and tapped his card to escape through the subway barrier.

“Ya!” Woojin called from the other side, seconds behind him. “That’s cheating Lixie.”

“It’s the truth!!” Felix skipped away but stopped to wait for the last of their family to get through the gates. “Minnie agrees!”

“You are the best Woojinnie-hyung,” Seungmin confirmed seriously. “Far superior to all the other Woojinnie-hyungs.”

“That is not fair,” Woojin grumbled as he herded them in front of him down the steps to the platform. Chan was leading and Felix could see Woojin hesitate at the top of the stairs to head-count everyone. “Do you boys even know another Woojin?”

“There’s a Woojin in my class,” Seungmin said. “He has really cool highlighters.”

“He’s not your Hyung then, is he?” Woojin said, exasperatedly. “It’s like you don’t love me at all.”

Jeongin squeaked from Seungmin’s hood and Seungmin pulled a face as at how loud it was for him.

“How do I know you’re not lying, Innie,” Woojin said, wallowing in his self-pity.

When he reached the bottom of the steps, Felix took a running leap and jumped onto his back.

“You give the best hugs, Hyungie,” he admitted to Woojin quietly. While Felix refused to pick a favourite Dad, Woojin didn’t deserve to think he was inferior because they refused to answer. “The best hugs out of everyone that’s ever hugged me,” he expanded so Woojin wouldn’t think he was hiding the truth in ambiguity.

“Felix,” Woojin whispered, emotion bleeding into his voice. He pulled Felix off his back and into his arms. “Luna, I don’t deserve kids like you.” Woojin pressed his face into Felix’s neck.

Woojin’s hugs were always the perfect amount of squeezing. He was slighter warmer than others too so it stayed with you for a few seconds after, a ghost hug blanketing you in safety. And Woojin would accept any length of hug. Felix could run into his arms and immediately dash off or cuddle into his side for hours and Woojin would just accept him and let him go again when Felix was ready. Some days the human world got overwhelming with so many new things piling up before he could understand them and then Woojin was an anchor. He didn’t try and explain everything like Chan or distract him like Changbin and Jisung; Woojin would just stand by him, letting Felix hide or confront his fears with the assurance that Woojin wouldn’t let him fall.

Felix pulled away first, kicking his legs lightly to be put down. Woojin was careful in lowering him to his feet even though he was barely off the ground and Felix shot his hyung one more smile before skipping off to the others, standing a few metres down the platform.

“What did you do to make Woojinnie cry?” Chan said jokingly, stopping him just before he entered the circle of loud, laughing boys.

“I told Hyung he gives the best hugs,” Felix informed him before jumping onto Hyunjin’s back and echoing the cry of _‘Luigi is superior!’_

“Damn right,” Chan whispered to himself behind him.

“Woojinnie-hyung promised he wouldn’t eat you,” Felix told Changbin once they were seated together on the train.

“Nice.” Changbin replied. His arm was around the back of Felix’s seat and when Felix leant back he could feel his bicep. “Ever? Or just today?”

“Just for today.” Felix used the turning train as an excuse to lean into Changbin’s side. “You’re lucky I got you that much.”

“You’ll need to sleep in my bed tonight then,” Changbin replied. “To keep me safe from the big bad wolf.”

“No no, you’re safe tonight.” Felix patted his leg. “It’s tomorrow you’ve got to watch your back.”

Changbin pouted at him. Felix rolled his eyes.

“But I will come cuddle you tonight.”

“Hear that, Sungie,” Minho whispered loudly. “You’re being sexiled.” An old lady a few seats down looked horrified and moved further along the train.

“That’s fine, I’ll just come share your bed,” Jisung replied. _“Oh wait.”_ Minho pushed him.

“Be _have,_ ” Chan said exasperatedly. “I regret adopting so many of you.”

"But you adopted Minho-hyung and Woojin-hyung last so actually we'd be worse if you adopted less of us," Seungmin pointed out.

"You were fine before!" Chan argued. He was wrong. He'd just been too sleep deprived to notice. "Now you're all growing up and being gay for each other and I don't have enough rooms to keep you all separate."

"You started it," Hyunjin said with a smirk and Chan tipped his head back with a groan as they cackled around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> haha that last paragraph. i make myself laugh


	23. Who was counting?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you thought Changlix was cute theres a whole other level of wholesome coming

Felix did go to sleep in Changbin’s bed that night. They’d developed a comfortable balance of preference. Felix would rather be cuddled as close as possible, wrapped around whoever he was sleeping next to, but Changbin would overheat when he did that and eventually have to break his grip to get some cooler air on his skin. Changbin would get comfortable first, wriggling around until he found a good position and then Felix was allowed to latch on to a maximum of two limbs.

Changbin settled on his back, with one hand tucked behind his head, the duvet tugged down to his waist. The summer was just beginning but already he was fighting the heat. Felix slipped in next to him and threw one leg over Changbin’s waist, lining up their spines as he lay directly on top of the dwarf.

“No, Lix,” Changbin complained, shoving him to one side.

“It’s comfy,” Felix argued.

“It’s boiling.”

“Fine,” Felix grumbled, knowing he had been pushing it.

He stayed on his front by Changbin’s side, pillowing his head on his hands just under Changbin’s arm. That was ok but now he was barely touching Changbin and while his presence alone was comforting, skin contact would be better. He gently kicked the underside of Changbin’s knee until he could slide his leg underneath and wiggled his butt to shuffle down the bed to find the best position.

“Are you done?” Changbin asked with a huff of laughter.

“Can I open my wings?” Felix asked. If he was sleeping on his front he could at least half-open them and let them breathe for a while.

“No,” Jisung grumbled from across the room. He was in a mood because he felt like he was being left out. It didn’t help that Minho had jumped at the chance to get Felix’s bed to himself for the night.

“Didn’t ask you,” Felix retorted.

“Didn’t ask to be a third wheel for the rest of my life,” Jisung huffed. “And yet..”

Felix felt Changbin sigh more than he heard it. “Sungie, you’re not a third wheel; you’re my best friend. I thought you were ok with me and Felix dating.”

The silence stretched in the dark room and Felix reached for Changbin’s hand. Nothing was worth losing Jisung- that was something they both agreed on without having to talk about it.

“I’m happy for you,” Jisung said, sounding anything but. “Really. You’ve been dancing around each other since day one and I’m glad one of you finally got the balls to do something about it. But you’re going to want to spend even _more_ time together now you’re official so I’m either third wheeling or I’m alone.” Jisung’s voice cracked on the last word and Felix was out of Changbin’s bed and across the room in an instant.

In the dark he couldn’t quite see where Jisung was but he always slept on his side so Felix guessed where his shoulder would be and dropped his hand. Jisung had curled up into a ball so Felix’s hand landed on his head but that was just as good. It told him where the boy was and he wrestled the duvet out of Jisung’s grip to force his way in next to him.

Jisung squirmed away but he had noodle arms and Felix locked him in a hug in no time. “I could never leave my twin behind,” Felix said fiercely. “Binnie-hyung can be the third wheel.”

“We’re not twins, Lix.” Jisung protested weakly. He had given up fighting Felix’s hug but stayed in his little self-pity ball, not hugging back. “You don’t even have a birthday.”

“I do!” Felix said. It hurt a little to hear that from Jisung since the witch had been the one to proudly announce that they were twins in the first place. “15th of September.” It was the first day he crossed the skin and therefore his ‘birth’ into this world.

“What year?” Jisung asked.

“Every year,” Felix said confidently and Jisung giggled, loosening his ball to turn and tickle Felix’s stomach.

“2000, Sunshine.” Changbin called from across the room and Felix could hear the smile in his voice.

“ _2000?_ ” Felix asked. “But Channie-hyung and Woojinnie-hyung are only like 300 or something?”

“The _year_ 2000.” Jisung said, relaxing and cuddling into Felix’s side. “That’s when I was born so we pretend you and Seungminnie and Hyunjinnie were born the same year. Channie-hyung and Woojinnie-hyung were born in the year 1797.”

“But how do you know?” Felix asked. _They were really obsessed with numbers over here._ “Who was counting?”

“The year?” Changbin asked.

“Yeah, who was counting to 2000? That’s a lot of years- what if they lost count and you’re actually born in 2001?”

“Lots of people were counting,” Changbin said as Jisung shook with silent laughter.

“And who started the counting?” Felix asked. _There were many flaws in this counting thing. Like the time. Who was checking that it had been 24 hours? 24 seemed a very strange number for Terra to decide to stick to. Five was a good number. Why didn’t she choose five?_

“A human started the counting,” Changbin said patiently. “There was other counting before that but the human got mad at some other humans and decided to start from one again.”

_That sounded bad. If a human could just choose to start from one again at any time then what was the point of the counting at all?”_

“Why did you tell him that, Hyung?” Jisung said crossly to Changbin, pulling Felix close. “You know the months freak him out.” The months did freak Felix out. _Why did some of them get more days? And why were there so many of them?_

“I just answered his question,” Changbin protested.

“Don’t worry about the years, Lix,” Jisung told him soothingly. “You just have to remember that if somebody asks you were born in 2000. Same as me, yeah?”

“Because we’re twins,” Felix said firmly. That was the one thing about this counting he could get behind.

“Yes, because we’re twins,” Jisung allowed.

“Does this mean you’re not coming back to my bed?” Changbin asked from across the room.

Felix couldn’t see him but Changbin’s night-vision was better than his so he blew a kiss in Changbin’s general direction on the off-chance he could see it. “Twins come before boyfriends,” he said.

“Oooh, are you guys official?” Jisung teased. Felix hit him with a pillow.

“The fae don’t have a word for it,” Felix said, feeling embarrassed. He wasn’t about to explain ' _interest'_ now. “I thought that was the right Korean word.”

“Humans normally ask first before they use that word,” Changbin explained. “Before that they say they are ‘dating’. But you can call me your boyfriend.”

Jisung squealed and buried his face in Felix’s arm. Felix didn’t see what all the fuss was about.

“What do dwarves call it?” he asked. It would be much cuter if they used a word from one of their cultures and dwarves seemed to be a lot more romantic than the fae.

“Dwarves skip straight to fiancé,” Jisung laughed.

 _“Actually_ , it’s ‘betrothed’.” Changbin corrected him shyly. “But I think we should stick to ‘boyfriends’, Lixie.”

“Good plan,” Felix said weakly. 'Betrothed' sounded pretty permanent.

Jisung squealed again, squeezing all of the air out of Felix. “Ahhh, you guys are so cute.”

"Stop it," Felix grumbled, digging his fingers into Jisung's side.

"You aaare," Jisung said, pressing his smile against Felix's temple. "And I'm going to tease you about it _forever_."

"Go to sleep, Sung," Changbin grumbled.

" _For. ever_." Jisung whispered but untangled himself from Felix and curled up on his side. He breathed out with a sigh and pulled the duvet over his shoulder. He wasn’t afraid of the heat like Changbin was. “Goodnight, Hyung.”

“Goodnight, Sungie,” Changbin replied sleepily. “Night, Lixie.”

“Goodnight, Binnie-hyung.” Felix said. He shuffled closer to Jisung so the duvet didn’t have a gap at his back and their hands touched. “Goodnight Sungie,” he whispered, barely more than a breath between them.

“You can go back to your boyfriend, you know,” Jisung said, too quite for Changbin to hear. “I don’t mind.”

Felix shook his head. He wouldn’t be able to sleep next to Changbin knowing Jisung was worrying himself across the room all alone. “I want to sleep with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> on a completely unrelated note: kim woojin- the fuck was that mate?


	24. A rare Pokemon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is technically set before the previous chapter but it doesnt matter because its INMINJIN woop woop

Jeongin made the death-defying leap from Seungmin's shoulder to his bed without a second thought. Seungmin reached out his hands to grab him but drew back as Jeongin shifted back to human, suddenly naked in a much more obvious way.

"Are you ok," Seungmin asked worriedly, hovering over him as Jeongin bounced, face first.

Jeongin grunted and fished under his pillow for his pyjamas. "I'm fine Hyung. Stop worrying."

"I'm really sorry I lost you," Seungmin said earnestly. "I could have sworn you were safe in my pocket."

"I was." Jeongin admitted, not wanting Seungmin to beat himself up over this anymore. "I ran off when you all got on the bendy bed."

Jeongin hissed as Seungmin quickly switched to beating him up. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a red handprint on his shoulder in a minute.

"You ran away?! I was so worried!"

" _I know_ ," Jeongin curled up and held up his hands up to protect himself. "I came back, didn't I?"

"Argh!" Seungmin flopped into the bed next to him. He looked tired and Jeongin was almost guilty for making him worry much. "What if someone else had seen you? Or you got caught in a mouse trap?"

Jeongin rolled his eyes. "I'm not dumb enough to go in a mouse trap and rats can run pretty fast- nobody would have caught me off I didn't want them to."

"I'm not taking you in rat form again," Seungmin grumbled. "If you want to play those games you can go with Jinnie."

"What about me?" Hyunjin asked, coming into their bedroom. He spotted Jeongin and squealed, rushing over to squeeze his cheeks. "You're a cute rat, Innie," he cooed.

"He's a menace as a rat," Seungmin said darkly, crossing his arms.

Hyunjin tilted his head as he regarded Seungmin. "Did he bite you?" Hyunjin asked.

"He ran away!" Seungmin said exasperatedly. "I had to search the shop looking for him and lie to an employee."

"Is that why you wandered off?" Hyunjin asked mildly. "You found him again though."

"Not the point," Seungmin grouched and Hyunjin wrapped him in a hug, rocking him aggressively until Seungmin's frown broke.

Hyunjin was so much better at dealing with a grumpy Seungmin he was. Jeongin normally had to sacrifice himself as a distraction and even that only really worked as an apology. If Seungmin was seriously grumpy Jeongin often just left him to it for an hour until Seungmin reasoned himself out of it. Hyunjin could change his mood so effortlessly though and Jeongin wondered if that was because they spent more time together in class or if Hyunjin was just naturally better at this than he was. Neither option made him very happy.

"Was it fun being a rat, Innie?" Hyunjin asked as Seungmin pulled Hyunjin off him, now smiling faintly.

"Everything was really big," Jeongin said unnecessarily. It was his overwhelming thought from the experience. He'd had a heightened sense of smell before and the instinct to stay hidden came out in his hare form though he'd never taken that outside. However he'd never experienced being that small before. Seungmin's hoodie pocket had been big and warm and smelled like home. It was safe but outside of the hoodie, space stretched in every direction and he understood why rats stuck to the shadows.

"Getting smaller will do that,' Seungmin said, the sassy shit.

Jeongin wanted to fight him for that comment but he was tired and Hyunjin sat between them and would no doubt break them up before he got a good hit in. He should have bitten Seungmin when he had the chance.

Hyunjin's fingers slid through his hair and Jeongin decided to give this one to Seungmin since the other boy hadn't brought up the unraveling stitching in his hoodie pocket. Hopefully he'd forgotten but given Seungmin's love for collecting debts Jeongin didn't fool himself into thinking that it would be forgotten forever.

"Are you going to nap, Innie?" Hyunjin asked, startling Jeongin into alertness he hadn't realised he had left. "I think getting a new form tired you out."

Seungmin leaned around Hyunjin to observe him too and Jeongin blinked at them. He wasn't a little kid that needed naps but also a nap sounded really good right now.

"We can wake you up when dinner is ready?" Seungmin offered.

"I don't need a nap," Jeongin huffed and Hyunjin and Seungmin exchanged meaningful smiles. _What were they up to?_

"Ok," Seungmin said, giving up the fight far too easily. "Want to watch rat tricks on YouTube?"

"I'm not a pet," Jeongin grumbled as he sat up and leant against Hyunjin's side. He allowed the degradation in his puppy form to an extent. He’d play along with commands if they were outside and maybe play some catch since he loved pleasing people in that form. But that didn’t mean he stopped being Jeongin because he was a different shape. Hyunjin in particular babied him enough as a human. He had to make his boundaries clear early on in getting his rat form or he'd have a hamster wheel by the end of the week.

"Did you know rats can swim for three days before they drown?" Hyunjin told him excitedly, already typing in the search bar on his phone. "Kkami was great at swimming."

Seungmin laughed. "Innie's your second best friend that's a rat."

"I'm not a rat," Jeongin pulled a face. _How many times did he have to explain that he was a human._ "And I'm a way better best friend than Kkami."

" _You take that back!_ " Hyunjin said, affronted. "Kkami saved my life. You would sell me to Seungmin's dad for a single strawberry."

"My dad wouldn't buy you," Seungmin interjected. "He'd just kidnap you."

"Thanks for the nightmares, Minnie," Hyunjin said sarcastically. "It's not like I'm a rare Pokémon or anything."

"You'll be fine," Seungmin said. "I've got blackmail on him."

"You'd use up your blackmail on me?" Hyunjin asked. "Aww, Seungminnie." He squished Seungmin’s cheeks and Seungmin locked eyes with Jeongin in terror. Hyunjin recovered from his ‘cuteness overload’ quickly though and let Seungmin go again.

“I’d use my blackmail for any of you,” Seungmin grumbled, no doubt annoyed that Hyunjin had got him to reveal his secrets free of charge. “But that doesn’t mean you should deliberately do stupid shit knowing I will bail you out.”

“Us? Do stupid shit?” Jeongin asked. “ _Never.”_


	25. That's a maybe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much as I would love to write more babie OT3 this aint about them so it's back to Felix POV
> 
> (if i ever get that far i reckon inminjin focus will be two fics down the line?)
> 
> Also there may be delays with this fic cos your girl dislocated her elbow ayy. All the muscles that control your hand are in your forearm and my forearm is wow so swollen and so purple and so not in the mood for working my hand rn. Im totally fine just probably won't be doing a lot of typing for a little while so this is a heads up on that

Felix woke up entangled with Jisung and the duvet in equal parts. It wasn’t exactly comfortable but he wasn’t inclined to move. The door squeaked as it opened and Felix accepted that he wouldn’t be getting to drift off again. 

“I see it was a bros before hoes kind of a night,” Minho commented cheekily.

"What does that make you?" Felix retorted sleepily. His knowledge of Korean might be patchy but Minho and Jisung had made sure some holes were patched earlier than others.

"Touche." Minho came into his line of sight and sat at the headboard to pull Jisung's hair up into a mohawk before letting it flop back down over his face. "You have to get up now if you want any of the meat for breakfast. Innie's eating like we've starved him."

"Do you think it's from the shifts?" Felix asked, forcefully, pulling Jisung off him. Jisung just fell onto his front and kept sleeping.

Minho shrugged. "Rats have high metabolisms." He slapped Jisung lightly on the cheek, imitating the hollow sound it made and then got up to leave the room.

“Wha’s habnin?” Jisung slurred. He lifted his head off the pillow and squinted .

“Minho-hyung was bullying you,” Felix informed him. _Did it count as bullying if the slaps were delivered with a tender smile?_

“Did he draw on my face?” Jisung asked, scrubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“No.” Felix frowned at his friend. “He slapped you and messed with your hair.”

“Ah,” Jisung said almost fondly. “That’s fine.”

“NICE,” Felix said and got a solid slap across Jisung’s cheek before he got up and ran from the room.

“HEY!” Jisung yelled but Felix had already skipped to the dining room and taken a seat strategically close to Woojin. 

Changbin was the only other one there but he was finishing his plate as Felix arrived so he only smiled before putting his dishes through to be washed and heading back to the bedroom. Felix could hear the others running about the house and the seat he sat on was still warm so it couldn’t have been long since the others left too.

“What did you do?” Woojin asked as Felix filled a plate for himself.

“I slapped him,” Felix said cheerfully. Minho had been right, they were nearly out of all the good food. He left just enough for Jisung though as so not to add insult to injury. “Sungie said it was fine.”

“And yet I don’t believe you,” Woojin said dryly, sipping his coffee. “Channie’s running therapy this morning and we have a group in the afternoon so no chaos today. Ok?”

It was bold of Woojin to think that their chaos was premeditated. Well, the mattress store had been but that was a rare occurrence. It was normally them just filling the boredom of minding the shop with little experiments. Little experiments that quickly got out of control.

“That’s a maybe, Hyungie,” Felix smiled winningly.

“Go on,” Woojin goaded him. “Say ‘yes’. Be well-behaved for one day. It’ll be an adventure.”

“What did the others say?” Felix asked, pulling a classic mis-direct as he shovelled more food in his mouth. It was kind of cold but he was pretty late to breakfast anyway so he couldn’t complain.

“The others don’t need asking. I don’t normally have to put out fires when they are left alone,” Woojin replied. That was a lie. Hyunjin was a hazard in the kitchen and Jeongin could knock over five different things just by breathing. 

“Hyunjinnie started the last fire,” Felix pointed out. It was only toast but Felix had to shift the blame to someone else. And if they were using ‘most fires’ as a measure of safety then Felix was much further up the list of responsible children. He rarely started the fires, he was just quite often standing next to the person who did.

Woojin ruffled Felix’s hair. “You know I mean more than just chaos by fire- don’t start that fae logic on me. No window watching either.”

“Hyuuuung,” Felix whined as Jisung flopped down opposite them and gathered the remaining food for himself. “I won’t scare anybody.”

“Yeah, Hyung,” Jisung joined in. “How are we supposed to know when to put the fires out if Lix isn’t keeping watch?”

Woojin sighed. “I need to split you two up. Rock paper scissors for who’s working today,” he ordered them. “Minnie and Jinnie are in the shop as well but we need someone with more experience too.”

Felix won because Jisung hadn’t woken up enough yet to throw anything but rock. That was just the start to his good day as it turned out Changbin was also off that day. That meant they would get to go on a date. A real date. Not just friends/brothers/colleagues hanging out. 

Felix raced to his room as soon as he found out. He had to dress nicely. Not that it really mattered since Changbin saw him literally every day and had seen him at his worst and best and everything in between. However, Felix knew this was serious for Changbin and he wanted to show that he was serious too.

Thankfully sharing a room with Seungmin meant his clothes were easy enough to find. Jisung had a habit of borrowing when his dirty laundry piled up but he wouldn’t risk taking from Seungmin and since they shared space, Felix’s clothes were often safe from Jisung by extension. Now the only question was _what_ to wear out of the clothes he had.

Changbin had a pretty consistent style of jeans and a black t-shirt. However, unlike Chan, Changbin normally added a small pop of colour. Felix wondered if they could match again. He put on tight blue jeans and stared at his half of the wardrobe, fiddling with the ring hung around his neck. He looked good in turtlenecks but it was summer so maybe that wasn’t the best choice and a t-shirt was too plain. T-shirts were most of his options though. Unless… 

Felix ran his hand through the fabrics and stopped at the end. A button up shirt was fancy, right? And he could leave the collar open so Changbin’s ring would be visible. He tugged a white shirt off it’s hanger and put it on. He looked good. At least, he thought he did. He twisted around to check himself on the mirror one last time before he finalised his decision and sighed as he noticed the black of his wings showing through the cotton. Why couldn’t his wings be a less obvious colour?

Changbin came through to check on him as Felix tried to set his shoulders in a way that hid his wings from view. It wasn’t working.

“You look nice, Lixie,” he said shyly. Felix looked up to see him dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt as predicted. The t-shirt was a little tighter than some of his others and showed just how much muscle the dwarf was packing. It also had a little smiling yellow flower sewn onto the right breast. The duality was just so _him_ it made Felix smile too.

“I need to change,” Felix grumbled. Now he was even slower at getting ready than _Changbin_. “My wings are showing.” He turned around and flexed them slightly so they pressed against the thin fabric to back up his statement. 

Changbin’s hand pressed them back down against his back. “It’s not that obvious if you keep them still. People will think it’s just an undershirt but if you’re that worried wear something else on top.”

Felix wasn’t going to put a hoodie over his shirt. That would defeat the purpose of wearing a shirt in the first place. He was considering just scrapping the white shirt altogether and wearing something else when a memory of yellow lit up his brain. He pushed Changbin out of the way and dug through the box he kept jumpers that were too bulky to fit with the rest of his clothes. It was in here somewhere. It had to be.

“You alright there, Sunshine?” Changbin asked with a laugh as Felix searched at a feverish pace.

“I have a- Aha!” He held up the long cardigan in victory. It was mostly black with horizontal blocks of white and _yellow_. The same yellow that was on Changbin’s t-shirt.

“You’re really going for this matching thing, huh?” Changbin said with a smile, helping Felix put it on.

“I _like_ matching,” Felix said fiercely. He really hoped Changbin would be ok with it. It felt good to know he was paired with Changbin for the whole day. Even if they weren't holding hands or kissing, people would know that Changbin wasn’t just his brother or his colleague. It was something couples did.

Changbin’s smile widened to show his teeth and he stepped closer to adjust Felix’s collar so the ring was more visible. “One yellow shoe, one black shoe?” he asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If this isnt peak honeymoon phase idk what is


	26. Point cut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the well-wishes ^^ My arm is pretty bruised still but doesn't hurt that much so I'll keep writing when I'm taking breaks from uni work.
> 
> Now I know it sounded like changlix were about to go on a date last chapter but um anybody remember the great woochan walk delay?

They decided to go out the back door to avoid teasing, moving quietly as they put on their shoes so nobody would hear them leave. The secrecy was thrilling and Felix grinned at Changbin as he tightened his laces. Mundane tasks had never made him feel so alive before. Perhaps it was because this was his first relationship, rather than a fling, and every action held the potential to become an aged tradition only they understood. Would they still wear odd shoes in a year? In ten years? In a hundred? Would they progress from sharing secret smiles to whole unspoken conversations like Chan and Woojin? The thought of that level of connection made Felix feel dizzy in a good way.

Despite being as silent as they could, they should have known that no amount of focus could let them sneak past Chan’s hearing.

“Binnie?” It was said sweetly with a touch of urgency- Chan wanted something.

“No,” Changbin whined softly, throwing a strop for half a second before composing himself. “Yes Hyung?”

Chan opened the door from the store room side of the shop and poked his head around. It was a door that was rarely used as they normally went through to the shopfront from there than up to the house and it squeaked horribly as Chan opened it.

“I’ve got a baby vamp,” Chan said with a dangerous smile. “Can you make her a charm please?” It wasn’t really a question.

“How’d she get here if she doesn’t have a charm?” Changbin asked, kicking his shoes back off angrily. It was a bright sunny day and any vampire in their right mind would stay inside until the sun was lower in the sky.

“Pretty bad burns,” Chan winced. She must be a very new vampire then, to not have known how to protect herself. Vampires could go out in the sunlight but they were a lot more sensitive and now it was summer Chan couldn’t go out in the day time without his charm on. “I gave her some of the burn cream Sungie made but she can’t go out again until it’s dark.”

“Can’t you give her your spare?” Changbin asked, in one last desperate attempt to save their date. Felix knew he’d already caved though and was just putting up a fight to make Chan guilty.

“She’s not my bloodline,” Chan said needlessly. Changbin knew exactly why it wouldn’t work. “Sung’s accessed his core now so you guys can finish faster.”

“Sure.” Changbin rolled his eyes. “Because I’ve just got point cut diamonds lying about my workshop,” he said sarcastically. “I’ve got a ruby and emeralds but they won’t conduct the spell as well.” He sighed. “Let me see what grade of roughs I’ve got but it’ll be an hour at least.”

“You’re the best, Binnie,” Chan smiled apologetically, pulling a reluctant Changbin into a hug. “Lixie, you’d best not come round this side of the shop with a baby vamp around. Either say out front with the others or help Binnie. I’ve got a lot to explain to Yeji.” With that Chan shut the door again, leaving them alone.

Changbin stuck his tongue out at the door. “Just cut and polish a diamond, Changbin,” he said mockingly, not sounding at all like Chan. “You’re a dwarf so that’ll be easy for you.” He caught Felix smiling and Changbin scowled at him. “What are you laughing about? Your date was ruined too.”

“Postponed,” Felix said. “You know Hyung will give us time off to make up for it. And who said this can’t still be a date? You’re pretty hot when you’re working.”

“You can’t _say_ things like that, Lix,” Changbin blushed and tried to hide it by turning to walk into his workshop.

Felix kicked off his shoes next to Changbin’s and ran after him. He caught up to Changbin as the dwarf was looking through his drawer of rocks and wrapped his arms around his middle. 

“It’s the truth,” Felix said right in his ear and kissed him just below his earlobe before pulling off him so Changbin could work properly. “Do you mind if I sit and watch? I’ll not distract you.”

“It’s pretty boring, Lixie,” Changbin warned, weighing two stones in his hands.

“That’s ok!” Felix said brightly. He wouldn’t give up an opportunity to watch Changbin. He knew what Changbin did to make the rocks shiny was very difficult and he took great pride in it but it took so long Felix had never seen the process all the way through without being distracted. This time he would concentrate really hard.

“I’m going to see how big this Yeji girl is,” Changbin said, putting the rocks down on his worktop. “There’s no point using a bigger crystal if she’s still a kid. Stay here.”

“But if I got bitten I’d be able to fly _so_ fast,” Felix said. Sometimes he dreamed about it though normally it was Chan biting him. He’d die in a giant explosion and then fly up until he could touch the stars.

“And you’d also be banned from going home again,” Changbin pointed out. That was something he hadn’t considered. “Stay though here and I’ll be back in a minute.” He pecked Felix quickly on the lips and left the room.

“I miss you already!” Felix called after him and he heard Changbin giggle. 

“She’s just a kid,” Changbin said, coming back and throwing the larger of the two rocks back into the drawer. “Same age as Sungie.” The mood was instantly down and Felix quietly pulled up a chair next to Changbin as the dwarf started hitting the rock with a tiny hammer and bringing it to his ear.

“Was she turned recently?” Felix asked.

“Two days ago,” Changbin said. “She’s stable now Hyung’s fed her and treated her burns. Apparently she’s been drinking ox blood soup and found out about Channie-hyung’s therapy thing online somewhere. Didn’t even know vampires were real until someone snapped her neck.”

“That’s awful,” Felix whispered. When he’d first come to Truailleadh he hadn’t spoken the language and he didn’t know anyone but at least he knew himself and knew what to expect from tales he’d heard. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be suddenly thrown into this world, hungry and in pain.

“She’ll be ok now,” Changbin assured him, marking points on the rock to cut now. “If we get this charm done today she might even be able to go back to her normal life for a few years until she gets to uni age.” He finished marking up the rock and handed Felix a pair of safety goggles. “Put these on.”

“What about your eyes?” Felix asked as Changbin clamped the rock and switched out his tools. Changbin wasn’t putting on any protection even as he moved Felix back from his workspace.

“I know where my own eyes are,” Changbin said. “I won’t knock any of the chips up towards my face but they might go sideways. Don’t breathe in the dust either.”

Felix pointedly held his breath but gave up as Changbin’s concentration returned to the rock. His strikes were fast and precise and Felix watched in amazement as the shining interior slowly appeared.

“That was like magic, Binnie-hyung,” Felix said in awe as Changbin held the now freed gem up to a light.

Changbin scoffed. “I didn’t even cut it. I just removed the debris from around it. The diamond is like that naturally.” He held out the gem to Felix who took it very carefully and held it up to the light. “Dwarves learn to do that before we can even talk.”

“Still amazing,” Felix said handing it back. “Are you done already?”

Changbin shrugged. “I’ll polish it but the crystal structure is strongest like this so unless I use the diamond saw only the non-diamond debris will come off. Then it’s Sungie’s turn. The _real_ magic.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i read up about diamond cuts for this chapter it was pretty interesting. the things i google for fanfics


	27. I taste irresistible

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the well wishes for my arm, is healing much faster than I expected 😊
> 
> Yeji from Itzy is in this next chapter as a speaking character but you don't need any knowledge of itzy cos I certainly don't have any

“Yo! Hannie!” Changbin called through the curtain. “Go get your blood sacrifice! I’m done!”

Jisung bounced through the curtain as if he had been waiting for exactly that. “Got it already!” He held up a clear glass vial filled with an unmistakable red liquid.

“Please tell me Channie-hyung got that for you,” Felix said. Jisung appeared unharmed but Felix wouldn’t put it past him to be missing a finger due to getting too close to get another hungry vamp.

“Yeah. Apparently I taste irresistible so I wasn’t allowed near Yeji,” Jisung said proudly. “She sounds pretty cool though. Hyung said she’s taking the whole mystic thing way better than I did.”

Changbin snorted. “You cried, he reminded him. “A lot. Most people would take it better than you.”

“You weren’t even there,” Jisung sneered, holding out his hand for the diamond.

Changbin dropped it into his palm. “Yeah, well, you were still crying when I arrived.”

They bickered like siblings, with no subject out of bounds, and Felix had learnt a lot of questionable things about each boy from just being in the room with them squabbling.

“I thought Channie-hyung was going to send me to _jail_ , of course I cried!” Jisung exclaimeed.

This was a perfect example. Even after living and working with them for nearly two years he was still hearing new stories.

“Did you explode something?” Felix asked knowingly.

“I wasn’t allowed to try spells yet,” Jisung explained. “But I tried something I found on youtube and like, it wasn’t fae so I have no idea what I was actually saying but I was so excited and nervous that it activated my magic anyway and I set my whole room on fire…. And then I passed out.”

“How are you still alive?” Felix asked in amazement. He had a feeling Chan was the answer.

“Hyung pulled me out,” Jisung said nonchalantly. “ _Anyway_. Blood.” He held up the vial. “Diamond.” He held the diamond up to the light with his other hand and uncapped the vial. He dropped the diamond into the blood, recapped it and shook it. “Blood diamond.”

Changbin winced. “That’s not what that means. Stop shaking it, you’ll crack the glass!”

“I’m _mixing_ them,” Jisung said condescendingly. He cleared his throat and turned to Felix just before he started. “Please ignore my pronunciation.”

“You ignore mine,” Felix replied, understanding his apprehension. “Do you know what you’re going to say?”

“As light hits this diamond and is not absorbed, only redirected to the air once more, let light be redirected from this blood.” Jisung said.

He had a way of making words poetic that Felix thought a lot of fae would be jealous of. It was part of what made his magic so powerful. The other part was the emotion he channeled into it and Felix had no doubt he would do that for Yeji this time too.

“What’s ‘redirected’ in Fae?” Felix quizzed him. He didn’t expect Jisung to mess this up since it was a spell he’d used before but if Changbin had to cut another diamond today Felix had a feeling he might lose his normally carefree attitude.

“ _Redilected_.” Jisung said.

“ _Redirected_.” Felix corrected. _“As lights this diamond and is not absorbed, only **redirected** to the air once more, let light be **redirected** from this blood.”_

 _“Redirected.”_ Jisung got it right this time.

“Perfect!” Felix beamed. “Go ahead.”

Changbin grabbed Felix by his shoulder and pulled him away from Jisung to hold him close to his chest.

“I’m fine,” Felix said quietly as Jisung cracked his neck in preparation.

“I know,” Changbin replied. “Just humor me. I don’t want you in the detonation zone."

Jisung took a deep breath and suddenly his eyes were bright blue and the spell was nearly finished. Changbin’s arm tightened on Felix’s waist and Felix entirely forgot to check Jisung’s pronunciation. A few blinks later and Jisung’s eyes were back to a warm brown and the spell was complete.

“Done?” Changbin asked, letting go of Felix.

Jisung shrugged and handed the vial back over. “There’s a spell on the crystal for sure. I hope it’s a functional one.”

“Only one way to find out,” Changbin said. He took a pair of pliers and removed the diamond from the blood vial to rinse it in the tiny sink at the back of his bench. “I’ll make a frame for this and string it up. Can you let Hyung know it’ll be done in ten minutes?” he asked Jisung.

“CHANNIE-HYUNG THE CHARM WILL BE TEN MINUTES!” Jisung screamed, not even bothering to face the room Chan was in.

“THANKS SUNG!” Chan replied.

“CAN YOU STOP YELLING!” Seungmin added from the front of the shop.

“NO!” Jisung shouted gleefully.

“Get out of my workshop,” Changbin sighed, shooing Jisung back to the shop.

***

They met Yeji in the shop front, with Chan standing protectively beside her. Protecting them from her, Felix gathered from the way Chan was watching her movements carefully.

Yeji was a striking girl with slanted intelligent eyes, high pigtails and a confident stance. Felix could see the fading burns on her face and hands, the skin mostly healed but still red and shinier. Her head moved slightly too fast to lock onto them as Felix and Changbin entered the room and she smiled shyly when Felix flinched.

"You're doing well," Chan assured her. "Felix is the last of the tasty ones," he joked.

"What did you say?" Changbin growled, withholding the pendant.

Felix skipped forward to stand behind the counter with Seungmin and Hyunjin and slipped his hand into Seungmin's. Everyone here was 'foreign' to an extent so Felix rarely felt out of place but when the distinction was made he always felt happier next to Seungmin.

Seungmin squeezed his hand. "Sungie is annoyed he apparently doesn't taste the best," he whispered conspiringly. And sure enough Jisung was scribbling angrily in his notebook at the table.

"It's just the basics of biology, Binnie," Chan said. "Nobody is going to bite anybody else but some people are harder to resist than others and Yeji is doing very well to be standing in this room right now." Chan aimed the end of that sentence towards Yeji with a smile. "Woojin is the only other person that might appear but he's a werewolf."

"The musky smell?" Yeji asked quietly.

"Yeah, that's him." Chan smiled proudly.

"He's Hyungie's boyfriend," Hyunjin said. He leaned across the counter with a friendly smile. "You can differentiate pretty well," he praised her.

"Thanks," Yeji ducked her head. "Everyone outside smelled mostly the same and I thought it was flower pollen or something at first. It's really different in here though."

"What do I smell like?" Hyunjin asked, waving his hand in the air.

Yeji's nostrils flared but she stayed rooted to the spot where she was standing. "Fish."

Seungmin cackled. "It's octopus. Is it gross?"

"I don't want to bite him," Yeji admitted.

"But you do want to bite me?" Seungmin guessed.

Yeji shook her head rapidly. "I don't want to bite anyone!" she said hurriedly. "And you smell like him anyway."

Hyunjin draped himself over Seungmin and Felix. "Ha! You have been octopused."

Felix cuddled into Hyunjin's side. Smelling less 'tasty' was probably for the better, regardless of how controlled Chan thought Yeji was.

"It's a good idea not to drink from fae even if it is consensual," Chan advised Yeji, beckoning Changbin to hand over the charmed pendant. "Their blood is essentially alcohol for you now."

"I'm _soju_?" Felix asked excitedly. Maybe he could sneak some of his blood into Chan's supply. A drunk vampire would be fun to see.

"Sure," Chan said, going with the comparison. "Jisungie is cider then."

"What?" Jisung asked, looking up from his notebook in confusion. "Why?

"Magic is fizzy," Chan explained with a smile. "Minho is champagne. He's an elf- like a fae but with a magic curse in his blood," he added for Yeji's benefit. She was taking all this information in with wide eyes.

"Oh, he'll love that," Changbin said dryly. "Am I milk or something?"

"Coffee?" Yeji said hesitantly, with her head tilted. "It is strong but not as nice as them," she gestured toward Seungmin and Felix and Hyunjin redoubled his efforts to mask their blood scent by cuddling them impossibly closer.

"I'll take it," Changbin said. He had warmed up to her slightly since Yeji was staying firmly next to Chan. "Jisung and I made your charm. If you keep it around your neck it should protect you from the sun. If it doesn't work or you lose it or something, come straight back and we can make you another one."

"How much is it?" Yeji asked, fastening it around her neck and admiring the way it caught the light. "It's very beautiful."

"It's free," Chan said. "You weren't turned by choice, we're just helping you get a life as close to normal as possible back."

Yeji's soft smile disappeared. "Thank you, Chan-oppa," she said sincerely, bowing. "And Changbin-oppa and Jisung-oppa for making me a charm. I should go…" Yeji looked warily out of the window where the sun was still high in the sky.

"I can't test it for you," Chan said gently, following her gaze. "Otherwise I would. If you'd rather stay here a bit longer until you're ready you're welcome for as long as you'd like."

“I’ll go out in a minute,” Yeji said almost to herself, holding the pendant tightly in one hand. A cloud must have just passed the sun as the light from the window suddenly got brighter and Yeji back away from it towards the back wall. “In a minute,” she repeated, all confidence in her posture gone. Felix wondered if it had been faked.

“Take your time,” Chan said. “You can sit at the table or we can go upstairs if you’d like but the scents will be stronger there.”

“I’m fine here,” Yeji said with her back against the wall. Felix thought she looked like she needed a hug but he knew he couldn’t offer one right now. She took a deep breath and then seemed to immediately regret it from the way her eyes widened and she shrunk into herself, crossing her arms across her bare stomach beneath her crop top.

“Would you like to hear about the fae world?” Felix asked, offering a distraction.

“Yes please,” Yeji said quietly.

Felix wriggled out of Hyunjin’s grip and hopped up onto the counter facing Yeji. “Is this ok?” he asked and she nodded. However, Chan crossed the room to pull Felix a little further away. He stayed between them and Yeji at all times and now leaned casually against the counter as if they didn't all know what he was doing.

“Well, first of all I have wings!” Felix said excitedly.

“Wings?” Yeji echoed in amazement.

“No wings out in the shop!” Changbin and Chan called in unison.

Felix smiled at Yeji. “Sorry, I’m not allowed to show you.”


	28. No champagne for minors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I watched an ITZY video for this (unnecessarily) and damn they're so cute off stage
> 
> Also I definitely shouldn't have started writing that other fic in this universe at the same time. I have two scenes set in the shop and I am so confused now. I don't remember where I put Innie here. Did I send him out with his friends?
> 
> I really don't like the flow of this chapter but for the sake of finishing this im just posting it

Yeji was smiling and laughing as Jisung gave a dramaticized rendition of the story of unlocking his core when the shop door opened. Jisung stopped talking on reflex as they had to avoid enlightening human customers and in the silence Felix heard a high-pitched grunt. He turned back to Yeji to find her restrained by Chan, eyes locked on the door.

“Nope,” Chan said cheerfully. “No champagne for minors.”

“ _Yeji?_ ” Minho asked from the doorway. “What are you doing here?”

“Oppa, hug the fish man.” Yeji said, her voice strained. “Hurry.” Chan had one across her shoulders forcing her chin up and his other arm across her waist. While Yeji seemed distressed and Chan’s arm was flexed from holding her still, she wasn’t actively trying to break his grip.

“Wha..?” Minho just stared at them.

“Hug Hyunjinnie,” Changbin said, pulling Minho towards the mer boy.

Hyunjin was more than happy to provide the service though he made sure not to leave Felix’ and Seungmin’s sides. Felix was sure that they’d smell ‘fishy’ for a good few hours but stayed nearby just in case. Changbin crossed behind Hyunjin to Felix and scratched at a spot between the tops of Felix’s wings.

“Are you guys ok being out here?” he asked Felix and Seungmin quietly. “I’m sure Yeji wouldn’t mind if you want to go upstairs.

“We’re fine,” Seungmin replied under his breath. “If we wanted to avoid danger we won’t be living in this house.”

“True,” Changbin admitted with a sigh.

“Right, why am I doing this,” Minho asked, looking pained. Hyunjin nuzzled into Minho’s neck and made a happy noise in the back of his throat.

“I got turned,” Yeji said with a sigh. Chan had let her go but stood close.

“ _Turned_?” Minho asked and his gaze snapped to Chan.

“Not by _me_. Terra, Minho. You know I don’t even like blood.” Chan said exasperatedly.

“Someone got me as I was going home from dance class on Monday,” Yeji said quietly.

Minho gasped. “Oh god, Yeji. I was supposed to be at that class. If I’d been there..”

“Then the vampire would have killed you instead,” Yeji said logically. “I wouldn’t wish that on you. Channie-oppa helped me. I’m fine now.” Her voice only waivered slightly which Felix found impressive. She’d had an awful week and it was only Wednesday.

“I’m already over a hundred years old, Yeji,” Minho told her gently. “And my family,” he gestured around the room, “aren’t going to bat an eye if I start acting weird. You’re still at school.”

“And now I can dance at double speed no problem,” Yeji grinned. “I’m coming for your spot, Ahjusshi.”

Despite himself, Minho smiled. “I don’t doubt it. You should come to the class an hour later now, by the way. That’s the mystic class so you won’t have to hide there and we can keep an eye on you. I’m the only fae species there so I can skip a few classes if I’m too distracting and there are other vamps you can talk to.”

It was the first time Felix had heard Minho refer to himself as fae and it felt oddly nice that he wasn’t making the distinction. Obviously, it was because their biology was very similar and Yeji had enough to think about without mystic politics but it was still nice to hear.

“ _That’s_ why there’s another class,” Yeji said in understanding. “I always wondered why there was such a mix of people in that class. Can I just show up or..?”

“I’ll let Noona know,” Minho assured her. “She should be able to find a vamp to tutor you with the speed control and stuff.”

“And not eating very tasty oppas,” Yeji joked.

“And not eating very tasty oppas,” Minho agreed. “I do prefer dancing with all my limbs attached.”

“So picky,” Hyunjin teased and then immediately jumped away from Minho to hide behind Seungmin as he realised who he’d spoken to. “Sorry sorry sorry.”

Minho just glared at him but didn’t act. Yeji smiled at them in amusement.

“You guys are really close,” she commented and Minho made a face of disgust.

“No.”

“Hyung’s lying,” Felix said. “He loves us soooo much. And he _loves_ cuddles.”

Minho lunged for him and Felix darted out of the way. Foolishly he jumped towards Yeji but she stayed in control and took a step back to maintain the distance.

“I think I’m going to go now,” Yeji said carefully as Felix scrambled back to the counter. “Thank you all for helping me.”

“Any time, Yeji,” Chan smiled warmly. “You’ve got my number and I’m presuming Minho’s as well and you’re welcome back at any time. If the shop is shut you can come around the back and ring our doorbell. Someone is almost always home.”

Yeji nodded, scooping up her satchel from the floor, and Chan walked her to the door. “See you at dance, Minho-oppa!” she called and opened the door. Minho waved goodbye. Yeji put her hand in the sunlight first, turning it and flexing her fingers.

She asked Chan something and he replied and then she stepped fully into the light. It didn’t seem to be causing her any pain. The second the door was shut Felix ran to the window and waved enthusiastically at the girl before she headed off down the street. She waved back, smiling widely and held up a finger heart. Felix made a bigger one over his head and he heard her laugh through the glass before waving and walking away.

“She was really nice,” Hyunjin said.

“Yeah, she’s a brilliant dancer too,” Minho said. “I hope this doesn’t ruin her life.”

“She doesn’t seem to be the type to be passive in her own destiny,” Chan said, his words clearer from being closer to Felix.

The words themselves though were harder to understand. ‘Passive’ was a word Felix had heard before but he couldn’t place it’s meaning. He was still trying to decode the word when a flash of colour outside caught his eye. It was a van and it was stopping outside their shop.

“THE BED IS HERE!!” he yelled and knocked over a display of rings in his rush to escape the window display.

“Felix…” Changbin groaned at the mess and Felix disarmed him with a smile and pushed Jisung out of the way to be the first to the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this fic is nearly done now. It's the final day for sure but idk how long i'll write for. Then you guys have to make the difficult decision of what you want next


	29. You're a cute boy

Chan went out to sign for the delivery and assured the delivery driver that they could carry the parts in themselves if he left them at the side of the road. The delivery driver gave a doubtful look to Felix and Jisung which was an accurate, though rude, assessment in Felix’s case. Felix had found sticks that weighed more than he did before. Jisung was physically as useless as Felix but all it took was one threat of disappearing cheesecake and he could lift things as heavy as the whole truck with his mind. That was perhaps something they shouldn’t inform the driver of though.

“You’ll need at least two strong people to lift all this,” the driver told Chan as he took his clipboard back, eying the boys in the shop through the window. “More if you’re taking it up the stairs.”

Chan smiled back at him, his dimples showing. “It’s going downstairs. I’m sure I can manage it on my own but if not my boyfriend can help.”

 _Or **my** boyfriend,_ Felix thought. Changbin may be short but he was stronger than Chan when it came to static lifting. Chan could at least acknowledge that.

The driver frowned, this time blatantly disapproving. It took Felix a second to realise that the disapproval was not at Chan’s lifting capabilities but rather at his sexual preference.

“ _Bye,_ ” Jisung said pointedly, staring coldly at the man.

“Uh, yes.” The driver fumbled for his keys.

“ _Bye_ ,” Felix added, standing shoulder to shoulder with Jisung and puffing up his chest. They were about as intimidating as a daisy chain but Felix wasn’t going to let people think treating his family like that was ok.

The driver nodded and scrambled back into his truck, stalling once before driving off.

“You didn’t have to do that, guys,” Chan sighed. “I shouldn’t have called Jinnie my boyfriend unnecessarily.”

“I didn’t do that for you,” Jisung pulled a face. “I need word to get out that I support the gays so more cute boys come to the shop. It was entirely for my own benefit.”

Chan smiled ruefully. “Are none of the cute boys I’ve brought home to your liking?” He teased Jisung, heaving the headboard onto his shoulder. Felix would help but Felix still had the strength of uncooked ramen and he would snap if he tried. “Not even one whose name starts with Min and ends with ho?”

“I’ve been friendzoned,” Jisung grumbled, kicking at the mattress in it’s protective plastic. “And Changlix are together,” he gestured dismissively at Felix, “so I need to find more cute boys.”

“Wait, was I an _option?_ ” Felix asked, absently holding open the door for Chan. “Was _Changbin?_ ”

“You’re a cute boy, Lix,” Jisung told him, following Chan back inside without trying to pick anything up either. “And you like cuddles. Of course you were an option.”

Felix was pretty sure Jisung was joking but just to check- “By that reasoning, Hyunjinnie is the perfect guy for you,” he said loudly. Three heads whipped towards him, one in confusion and two with looks that could kill. Perfect.

“You’re right, Lixie!” Jisung gasped dramatically. So it had been a joke. That was good because Felix had only ever seen Jisung as a friend. Jisung held open his arms towards their onlookers. “Hyunjinnie? Enemies to friends to lovers?”

“I’m too good for you,” Hyunjin scoffed.

Jisung dropped his arms. “Ah, Hyunjin-sshi! Where is your humility? Don’t you know that thoughts like that will make you ugly?”

His scolding only made Hyunjin laugh but Seungmin’s face was stony.

“Maybe I will stop getting hit on at school then,” Hyunjin said, unbothered Jisung’s antics. Somehow Seungmin’s frown got angrier and Felix tried to signal to him to maybe chill before someone else noticed but Seungmin wasn’t looking his way.

“People are hitting you at school, Jinnie?” Changbin asked worriedly. He had been helping Chan move everything into the shop since he actually had the power to do so and missed Jisung’s reject proposal..

“No, hitting on me,” Hyunjin corrected him. “Flirting and stuff.”

“His locker is always full of notes,” Seungmin said grumpily. “And girls follow us at lunch.”

“Are you ignoring them?” Minho asked, suddenly very invested in the conversation. “Hyunjinnie, tell me you’re not ignoring them.”

“Of course I’m ignoring them!” Hyunjin exclaimed. “When I try and say no nicely they just get more excited because I talked to them.”

“And he forgets to actually say no,” Seungmin added. For someone who attracted a lot of attention from strangers, Hyunjin was incredibly socially awkward when he didn’t have the safety blanket of the rest of them.

“Hyunjinnie,” Minho said, leading Hyunjin to the table and sitting him down. Chan raised an eyebrow at them but didn’t intervene, dragging the mattress through to what was now his bedroom. Changbin had stopped helping in order to be a witness to Hyunjin’s intervention.

“Hyunjinnie, love letters are useless to you.” Minho said. “You need to get them to give you ramen. Or chocolate. Something you actually want.”

“But I don’t want ramen?” Hyunjin said, frowning in confusion.

“ _I_ want ramen.” Jisung said. “Bring it home to me.”

“This seems morally wrong,” Changbin said. That was unfortunate for him because morally wrong was the sweet spot in fae negotiations.

“Ramen will take up too much space in his locker,” Seungmin said. “Ask for money.”

“ _No!_ ” Changbin exclaimed.

“Why not?” Seungmin asked. “Money will make Hyunjin happy and making Hyunjin happy will make them happy. That’s a good deal.”

“You can’t just take advantage of people’s feelings like that,” Changbin said, horrified. He had a lot to learn. “That’ll hurt their feelings.”

“They’re choosing to give stuff to Hyunjin though,” Felix pointed out. “If they didn’t want to get hurt they should not do it.”

“That’s-,” Changbin shook his head, lost for words and then his face lit up as Chan returned. “Channie-hyung, the fae are giving Hyunjinnie bad advice.”

“Advice you don’t agree with,” Chan corrected but he took a seat at the table. “Right, what’s going on?”

“People- girls mostly-,” Hyunjin started, “keep flirting with me at school and giving me letters and stuff. Minho-hyung said I should get them to give me sweets or ramen instead since they want to give me stuff anyway and Changbinnie-hyung said that’s wrong.” His eyebrows were pulled down in confusion and he was messing with his fringe. Felix could see how the girls were getting mixed messages.

“And Lix and Minnie agreed with Minho?” Chan guessed, a smile tugging at his lips. Hyunjin nodded.

“It’s a fairer deal!” Seungmin argued. “Before they were giving him things he didn’t want.”

“This isn’t A'Choille,” Chan said calmly. “You can’t make deals like that here.”

“But it’s fair,” Felix said. He wouldn’t admit it but he also wanted Hyunjin to use his popularity to get chocolate for him. His stashes in the house kept getting raided.

“And we get ramen!” Jisung added,thinking with his stomach like Felix.

“The girls -and guys- expect Hyunjin to give them something in return. Friendship or a relationship.” Chan explained. “If Hyunjin interacts with them more he would be indicating interest in what they want and not following through with that is like him breaking a deal.”

Breaking deals was abominable to the fae. It lost you all respect and people wouldn’t interact with you anymore. Social isolation was the worst thing that could happen to you when your currency and culture relied on the exchange of information. But if Hyunjin didn’t make any promise then how could he be held at fault?

“So I should keep ignoring them?” Hyunjin asked Chan.

“Or tell them you’re not interested,” Chan suggested. “That would be kinder. Minho’s suggestion would probably hurt some people and I don’t think you want to do that.”

Hyunjin shook his head. “No! They’re just trying to be nice.”

“ _They’re trying to buy affection that’s not for sale_.” Seungmin muttered darkly in fae. Hyunjin didn’t hear but Felix saw Chan try and disguise a laugh as a cough.

“ _Is he sold out?_ ” Felix teased him in a whisper. “ _Was it you or Innie that bought the last one?”_

Felix giggled as Seungmin’s eyes were on him like daggers and he darted out of the way to hide behind Changbin.

“Again, Lixie?” Changbin sighed, catching Seungmin’s eye. “Let them work it out on their own.”

“But that will take forever,” Felix replied, squeezing Changbin’s bicep. It was pumped bigger from carrying the heavy bed. “They’ll all be happier if Minnie just admits it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feelings are _complicated_


	30. This is racism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dont @ me for how I'm spelling ramen rn. I don't know why I started spelling it that way I'll probably come back and fix it
> 
> also I couldnt find any note of where i put innie for this 'day' so let me know if this is an continuity error

They took a break for lunch with all the talk of ramenn making them hungry. Woojin joined them once he was finished with Chan's therapy clients, looking visibly worn out.

"I don't know how you do all them back to back, Channie," Woojin grumbled, dropping into the nearest chair. "I had one kid have a full breakdown on me because he's had to watch his little sister grow old and die and then after that I had this woman go on about her hair being less shiny in the city air _and I had to pretend that was just as bad a problem._ "

"I'm sorry you had to take them, Jinnie," Chan said sympathetically and Seungmin passed the soggy remains of the ramenn down to Woojin.

"No, it's fine," Woojin said as he drank the soupy noodles. It was too soft now to be picked up with chopsticks but Woojin didn't complain. "Yeji needed you and none of the other cases were urgent. How did she get on?"

"She's actually in my dance class," Minho said. "I'm going to set her up with some vamp mentors there."

"Oh, that's great," Woojin said sincerely. "She's got people she already trusts.”

Minho chuckled. "She trusts me but she also tried to bite me when I came home."

Woojin's eyes widened over the rim of his ramen cup. "She didn't-"

"No, I had her," Chan reassured him with a smile. "I didn't let her eat any of the kids no matter how tasty they are. She did really well with control for being freshly turned so the humans will be safe around her.

"Speaking of tasty children," Chan turned to the rest of them with a wicked smile.

"Go for it," Seungmin said deadpan, holding his wrist across the table. Chan slapped it away.

"No! I'm not biting you. I meant that you're on house arrest until that rogue vamp is accounted for. Fae and magic bloods."

Changbin hit the table and Felix turned to him in surprise. It wasn't like Changbin to be violent.

"So we can go on our date this afternoon?" Changbin said, scowling. That explained why Changbin was so annoyed. He'd been excited about this for days now. Felix himself didn't mind too much as any time spent with Changbin was valuable to him, even if it was just hanging about the shop or his workshop.

"Nope," Chan smiled evilly, not even attempting sympathy for Changbin. "Not unless Jinnie or I come with you or this vamp is identified."

"But _Innie_ is just allowed to wander the streets no problem?" Changbin gestured wildly out of the window. Felix had wondered where their maknae had gone but he was used to him being away during the day for school that he didn't really register that he was missing.

"He'll smell of human and rat right now," Chan said. "And he's with Yedam so he'll be fine."

"This is racism," Changbin growled and stomped off to his room.

"That went well," Chan said mildly. "Does anybody else have an objection to staying inside?"

Felix slowly raised his hand. "I don't have a problem with it!" he said quickly. "But I'm going to need to properly stretch out my wings really soon. So if it takes a while could you walk me to the gate so I can go for a fly at home?"

"Of course," Chan said quickly. "Are you ok for now?"

Felix shrugged. It depended on your definition of 'ok'. He wasn't in pain and wouldn't end up in pain if he left it and did nothing. His wings and supporting muscles would just get weaker. He knew of older fae that didn't use their wings anymore- they couldn't even get them open. That's what Felix worked hard to avoid. Stretching was bothersome and he'd rather not have to go back to A'Choille and risk the time being misaligned while he was away but he didn't want his wings to wither either.

Seungmin stuck his hand down the back of Felix's shirt and prodded at his muscles before Felix could slip away from him.

"He's pretty atrophied," he informed Chan. What a snitch. "Probably can't fly properly right now."

Felix flicked his wrist at Seungmin in a pretty rude gesture the fae had that meant 'fuck you for sharing my information'. It was incredibly specific but ideal for most fae arguments. Like now. The only ammunition Felix had against Seungmin to retaliate with was the messy love triangle Seungmin was failing to negotiate. However, Felix wasn't so angry as to be blind to the damage that information could cause to multiple people so he kept his mouth shut and let the gesture express his displeasure.

" _Felix_ ," Chan admonished him.

"He fucking deserved it." Felix replied, still fired up. Seungmin stayed quiet so he agreed that he'd crossed a line.

"Hey wait," Minho said a fraction too late. "I know what that means." He repeated the gesture, not aiming it at anybody in particular. _Ooh, that was valuable._

“Can I use that?” Felix asked before Seungmin could.

“Wha-? Oh yeah, it’s free.” Minho was still getting used to Felix and Seungmin asking to sell his information. Knowledge was fair game to them but personal information they would ask for. Minho’s personal information was particularly valuable since it was practically unheard of for elves to befriend fae.

“That’s mine,” Felix told Seungmin, giving no room for negotiations. _You owe me_ , didn’t need to be said.

“Fine,” Seungmin allowed, holding up his hands. “You’ll be home before me anyway. Just make sure my dad gets it last.”

Felix laughed. “I can make sure he gets it third but that’s as good as I can promise. He’s got spies everywhere.”

“Tell me about it,” Seungmin muttered, rolling his eyes.

“What just happened?” Jisung asked, looking around the table. “What does,” he flopped his wrist in a way that wasn’t intimidating at all, “mean? Who’s in trouble?”

“I think Felix is in trouble?” Hyunjin said, equally confused. “Or Minnie? Both?”

“Neither,” Seungmin informed them. “I stole from Lix, he swore at me, and then he used up the favour he got from me stealing. We’re even.”

They weren’t really but Felix didn’t want to go into fractionated favours and reciprocal conditions with the others so he stayed quiet. Seungmin gave him a small smile in apology and held up one finger bent at the first knuckle. Good. He was also counting the favour only half repaid.

“That makes zero sense,” Jisung said. Jisung wouldn’t survive one day in A'Choille. “Did you understand that?” he asked Hyunjin. “Minho-hyung, can you explain in Korean?”

That _was_ Korean, Jisung just didn’t know how favours worked.

“I’m not fae,” Minho said. That excuse was getting old since clearly he’d been raised with a good amount of the fae cultural bitchiness.

“Ok,” Jisung swept Minho’s claim aside. “But what does,” he attempted the gesture again, "mean?”

“Can you stop swearing,” Chan said exasperatedly.

“So it’s a _swear_ ,” Jisung said proudly.

“Not the way you do it,” Seungmin muttered and Felix hid a giggle behind his glass as he drank.

“Does it mean 'fuck you'?” Jisung asked.

“Stop swearing,” Woojin said, cuffing the back of Jisung’s head.

Seungmin, Felix, Minho and Chan caught each other’s eyes around the table at Jisung’s question and grins spread across their faces. The first to give up the information would get attacked. Seungmin held out his hand, palm up in preparation and they copied him, fingers twitching like cowboys at a shootout.

“No,” Woojin said, putting down the last ramenn cup. He clasped Chan’s hand and pulled it into his lap and reached out for Felix’s. “Put your hands away or I will finger flick your forehead,” he threatened. He would make good on his word and they pulled back their hands as if they burned.

“Why can’t we knooooow,” Hyunjin whined. “This is unfair.”

“It’s a cultural thing,” Chan said dismissively.

“But you’re not even fae! This is racism,” Hyunjin complained.

Chan rolled his eyes. The shook factor had long worn out on that phrase. “Go join Binnie for a discrimination sulk then,” he told him, gesturing to the door.

“I will!” Hyunjin said petulantly. “We’ll start an anti-fae club.”

“Uh huh,” Felix said unbelievingly. “That’s definitely going to work.”

Hyunjin stuck out his tongue and left the room.


	31. What's a screw?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this went like 700 words over my normal chapter word count bc Hyunjin tentacles. (technically they should be called arms but that makes it way too confusing)

"I'm going to regret this..” Chan started, standing up and stretching his arms above his head. His wrist cracked and he yawned as he relaxed again, slouched over the back of Woojin’s chair. “But can you kids build our bed while we take the group session this afternoon?”

“Without Binnie?” Woojin asked, horrified as Jisung and Felix cheered.

“He’ll come round,” Chan said dismissively. “And there’s only like six parts with instructions- how hard can it be?”

“Hands up if you’re good at following instructions,” Woojin asked their audience. Felix, Seungmin, Jisung and Minho sat very still. Woojin gestured to the table and turned back to Chan. “Don’t be surprised if the bed stakes you in the middle of the night.”

Felix at least indevored not to make a death trap out of bed parts but he couldn’t promise anything. He’d never assembled a bed before and perhaps the line between weapon and bed was very thin. Afterall, the folding bed in the shop had nearly swallowed Changbin.

“That’s not going to happen,” Chan said calmly. “They are intelligent, capable individuals who will do a great job.”

“Uh huh. What are you paying us?” Minho asked, pulling out his phone and slouching in his chair as if he wasn’t going to move in a while.

“You get your own room out of this?” Chan reminded him.

“Good point!” Minho jumped up and clapped his hands. “Come on children, time to build a bed!”

“I did not agree to this,” Seungmin grumbled as they filed downstairs.

“You can watch the shop then,” Jisung retorted. “Since you’re so boring.” Seungmin lunged at him and Jisung darted off to the old storage room through the squeaky door.

There was a girl and a boy standing awkwardly outside the shop and Chan rushed to unlock the shop and let them in.

“Ah, I’m sorry. We were shut for lunch,” he explained. “You should have just pressed the buzzer.”

“It’s ok,” the girl said quietly, stepping into the shop and standing to the side just inside the entrance. “We’re early.”

“You can help Woojinnie set up then,” Chan said cheerfully, leading them through to the back room. “Watch you don’t trip on the boxes.”

“Sorry!” Felix said, scrambling in front of them to move the bed parts into the new bedroom. He tugged at a small box but it must have contained rocks because it barely moved.

Chan nudged it into the room with one foot as if it weighed nothing and Felix toppled backwards onto his ass. The boy, who was much taller than Felix, reached out a hand to help him up.

“Are you here for the, uh, session, too?” the boy asked politely.

“Oh no- I live here!” Felix smiled widely. It still filled him with pride. “Channie-hyung is my Dad.”

“Not your Dad,” Chan countered as the boy looked on in confusion.

“Are my Dad.” Felix said with emphasis. He couldn’t lie so it was definitely true, Chan had to accept it.

“He’s adopted,” Chan told the kids following him. “If we hear crashes next door later it’ll be him and the other kids. They’re going to be assembling a bed.”

“How many kids do you have?” the boy asked as Chan took pity on Felix and moved all the boxes for him. Jisung peered out of the room, brandishing a pair of scissors and smiled dangerously.

“Sung be careful where you point those!” Chan said before processing the question. “Uh, six?”

“Seven!” Felix corrected him and Chan’s eyes went wide in horrified shock. “MINHO-HYUNG, CHANNIE-HYUNG FORGOT ABOUT YOU!”

“How could you forget Minho-hyung!” Jisung gasped, reappearing with the scissors.

“I didn’t forget Minho!” Chan bluffed, holding up his hands. “He’s an adult.”

“You take that back!” Minho said, coming up behind Jisung. The kids for the therapy session looked on in concern and the girl backed slowly down the corridor.

“I’m telling everyone,” Felix said with a wild grin and ran upstairs before Chan could stop him.

***

“I think we’re missing parts,” Changbin said after what was probably too long spent assembling the bed.

“What parts?” Jisung replied. “It’s, like, nearly in one piece.”

“Yeah. Nearly.” Changbin replied. “There’s not enough screws.”

“What’s a screw?” Felix asked and Changbin held up one of the tiny metal parts he was attaching. _Ah._

“Do we need all of them?” Felix asked mildly.

“Yes,” Changbin narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “What happened, Lix?”

“It’s not lost!” Felix said quickly. “It’s just,” he glanced over at the chest of drawers, “under there.”

“That is excellent,” Minho said sarcastically, enjoying himself far too much. “Someone get Hyunjinnie.”

***

“It’s too far under,” Hyunjin said, wedging his fingered under the gap.

“For _hands_ ,” Minho said. “Shift and use your tentacles.”

“But it’s dusty,” Hyunjin whined, sitting up.

“Jinnie, come on,” Jisung wheedled him. “We’ve done all the hard work.”

“No you didn’t,” Hyunjin retorted. “Binnie-hyung did and you just made jokes and threw shit about.”

“How did you know?” Jisung whispered.

“I live with you, dumbass,” Hyunjin replied. “I’ll shift and get the screw if someone gets a bucket of water for me to clean off in afterwards. I’m not shifting back to legs with the taste of dust.”

“I’ll get it!” Felix offered and ran through to Changbin’s workshop to find one. Seungmin was leafing through the records in the shopfront as he passed by.

“Anything interesting?” Felix asked him.

“Someone bought wolfsbane last week,” Seungmin replied. “And beeswax. What a weird combination.”

Felix was about to tell him that it had been an old lady making soap when the door opened. “Innie!!!” Felix cried. “I missed you!”

“Has anything interesting happened?” Jeongin asked, accepting Felix’s hug grudgingly.

“We’re on house arrest because there’s a rogue vamp who turned a kid at Minho-hyung’s work,” Seungmin told him, wrinkling his nose. “Apparently fae taste too nice to be wandering alone.”

“But Channie-hyung let _me_ be out alone?” Jeongin gasps. “I thought I was his favourite.”

“You are,” Seungmin replied. “He forgot Minho-hyung earlier and said he only had six kids.”

“Wow,” Jeongin said. “Darktime Dad has become Deadbeat Dad.”

Seungmin gasped. “And he’s already dead. That’s perfect!”

“I know I am,” Jeongin said smugly. “Where are the others?”

“Destroying _The Bed_ ,” Seungmin said. “They asked Hyunjinnie for help so you know it’s going badly.”

Jeongin’s eyes lit up in interest.

***

“I have a bucket!” Felix announced as he returned to the bedroom-in-the-making. “Also an Innie and a Seungminnie.”

“It’s everything I wanted!” Hyunjin exclaimed. Jeongin blushed, ducking his head to shake his fringe forward and Seungmin quickly took a step back to be out of range of Hyunjin.

Hyunjin was shifted and wrapped around the chest of drawers to avoid touching the ground with his tentacles. Each reached about a metre in length when they were stretched but currently seven of the eight were curled around the corners and top of the furniture while the eighth searched underneath for the screw. His lower half clothes were piled messily to one side and Jisung was lying on his front to try and direct Hyunjin’s search.

“Left…. Other left.”

Hyunjin closed one eye as he concentrated and then squealed and pulled his tentacle back. “What was that?!”

“A marble?” Jisung guessed. “I dunno. Pick it up.”

“I’m not picking it up if you don’t know what it is,” Hyunjin said crossly. “Just tell me where the screw is.”

“Left.” Jisung said as Hyunjin tentatively reached under the chest of drawers again. _“Other left_.”

“Terra, you’re shit at this,” Hyunjin complained. “Minnie, help me.”

Seungmin crouched down beside Jisung and one of Hyunjin’s other tentacles briefly let go to touch along his face. Seungmin didn’t even flinch though Felix definitely would have. Instead he lightly rubbed the non-sucker side as it let go again and lay down to look for the screw.

“To the window, Jinnie,” he instructed.

“To the _wall!_ ” Minho yelled happily and then frowned when he got strange looks. “Wow you children need an education.”

“Ok Boomer,” Jisung replied, sitting up and rubbing his back.

“Not a boomer,” Minho grumbled as he helped Jisung up.

“Ahh!” Hyunjin screamed again. “That was cold. Tastes like metal.”

“That’s it,” Seungmin said. “Bring it out.”

Hyunjin deposited the screw in Changbin’s waiting hand and Felix watched in fascination as he re-positioned to the top of the chest of drawers. His limbs moved so fluidly and Felix had no idea how he kept track of them all, especially when he normally only had four. Seungmin made the mistake of standing up next to Hyunjin and in seconds Hyunjin had moved off of the furniture and onto him, sling his human arms around Seungmin’s shoulders to hang off his back.

“Get off,” Seungmin said half-heartedly, shrugging as if that would make any difference. The ends of Hyunjin’s tentacles had snaked under his shirt to stick to his skin and Felix knew from experience they wouldn’t come off again unless Hyunjin wanted them to.

“No,” Hyunjin replied. “Lix, pass the bucket.” Felix dropped it by Seungmin’s feet and Hyunjin stuck the one dusty tentacle in, shaking it aggressively. “Yuck yuck yuck.”

“Don’t wipe that on me!” Seungmin warned but Hyunjin did it anyway.

Meanwhile another tentacle had wandered off and ensnared Jeongin wrist to tug him closer. Felix watched as Hyunjin redistributed his weight between the two boys and then a tentacle reached for him. Felix held out a hand and Hyunjin touched it lightly, the suckers barely pulling at his skin before retreating back and investigating somewhere else. Hyunjin rarely shifted voluntarily since it happened so often out of fear but when he was comfortable Felix found it fascinating to watch the level of control Hyunjin had, even when he wasn’t really paying attention.

“Done!” Changbin called proudly. Felix hadn’t even realised he was still working. The bed was complete- a solid black metal frame tightly screwed together with very little contribution from Felix. He had mostly been swordfighting Jisung with the legs.

One of Hyunjin’s tentacles reached out, grabbed the headboard and pulled. The bed shook but stayed together. “Good job,” he said approvingly and pulled off of it with a pop. “Nap time to test it?”


	32. Interesting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You fools thought you were getting naps. SIKE you're getting EMOTIONS
> 
> fyi 'flashing' : an octopus changing colours rapidly. Most often to attract a mate or ward off competition.  
> NOT brief display of nudity.

There was an immediately apparent flaw with the nap time plan. They didn't have any bedding. Every other bed in the house was a single as well so they didn't have any they could borrow.

"Someone has to go buy some," Jisung said, looking pointedly to the 14-limbed entanglement that was Seungmin, Hyunjin and Jeongin.

"No," Hyunjin replied, pulling Seungmin and Jeongin closer so they had to brace off each others shoulders to prevent knocking heads. "Send Changbin."

"I just built this whole bed," Changbin grouched. "I'm not getting the bedding too."

"Well it's got to be one of you three," Minho said. "Probably more than one to carry everything. Hyunjin just let go."

"No," Hyunjin said petulantly. "Let me stay like this until I shift back."

“You’re kinda heavy though, Hyung,” Jeongin complained, trying to redistribute some of Hyunjin’s weight by shuffling closer to Seungmin. “Can we sit down?

"That is opposite of what we need to happen," Minho said but they sat anyway.

Hyunjin moved to Jeongin's lap and kept all of his tentacles off the floor by sticking them to the other boys. Seungmin took one that was not wrapped around his waist and coated it in water from the bucket with his hand. The mottled surface got shinier and Hyunjin shifted from a sandy colour to a deep red and back before settling on red.

After that Hyunjin started presenting each tentacle to Seungmin despite having his own hands to do it with. Instead he lay back against Jeongin's chest with his eyes closed as he focused on the feedback from eight individually functioning tentacles. Two were wrestling Jeongin as the shifter boy tried in vain to prevent his arms being trapped to his sides and another was drifting up through the collar of Seungmin's shirt to touch along his jawbone. They were in their own world and pretty quickly soaked through as Hyunjin would wrap his damp limbs back around the other boys.

"I don't think they're going to the shop," Jisung whispered loudly.

"Really?" Minho replied in the same volume, heavily laced with sarcasm.

"I'm not staying if Jinnie is flashing," Changbin said, looking embarrassed and avoiding watching the scene on the floor. "Duvet, covers and sheet?" he asked Minho.

"Yeah," Minho handed over his card. "Find the ugliest covers you can."

"I'm not flashing!" Hyunjin protested, his tentacles suddenly becoming startling white. He pulled them all back towards himself and slipped out of Jeongin's lap to shift back to human. Jisung threw him his clothes and he dressed quickly.

"I'll come with you to the shop, Hyung," Hyunjin offered, pulling Changbin out of the room.

If that wasn't suspicious behaviour Felix didn't know what was.

_“ **Interest** ing,_” Felix said as Seungmin picked himself off the floor.

 _“Back off,”_ Seungmin retorted weakly, helping Jeongin up.

 _“No.”_ Jisung butted in. _“It’s actually painful to watch,”_ Fuck. Felix had forgotten that Fae was becoming less of a secret language. Seungmin was going to murder him for this.

“ _Says you,_ ” Jeongin shot back, taking a half step in front of Seungmin. Jisung’s mouth opened with a tiny gasp and his eyes flashed with hurt.

“Stop speaking a language I can’t understand!” Minho yelled, coming in between them. “This is racism!”

Seungmin tilted his head to one side. “Huh. It actually _is_ racism this time. Sorry, Hyung. Felix started it.”

“I was only starting shit because you wouldn’t,” Felix retorted. If Seungmin would just do something since he’d already basically admitted it liking them they'd all be happier.

 _“It’s none of your business whether I start anything or not,”_ Seungmin said in rapidfire Fae. Felix could see Jeongin beside him mouthing the words to himself as he tried to work out their meanings. If they spoke fast enough with strong enough accents Jeongin and Jisung wouldn't be able to keep up.

 _"You're practically-" Dating. Why didn't Fae have a word for dating?_ Seungmin got the gist of his accusation before Felix could find a suitable alternative word.

 _"They're not ready. Ok?"_ Seungmin said sadly, understanding what Felix was trying to say. _"Drop it. Please."_

He looked so upset that all fire left Felix and he stepped forward to pull Seungmin into a hug. Seungmin clung to him tightly, hiding his face in Felix’s shoulder.

 _“I don’t want to lose either of them,_ ” Seungmin whispered into Felix’s cardigan. _“I can’t lose either of them.”_ Felix wanted to reassure Seungmin that that would never happen but given the way Hyunjin had run off he couldn’t be sure enough to say. Instead he ran his hand soothingly over Seungmin’s back until he was ready to face the world again.

"You're all wet," Felix commented when he eventually pulled away.

"I'm going to get changed," Seungmin said and practically ran from the room. Jeongin turned to Felix, his eyebrows drawn together with worry.

"He's fine," Felix assured him with a smile. He shooed Jeongin from the room too. "Go and put on some dry clothes too and maybe give him a hug."

“What was that about?” Jisung asked once Jeongin was gone.

Felix shook his head. “I went too far. We shouldn’t tease them about it anymore.” He sat down on the bed and nearly bounced to standing again. Chan raised a little higher in Felix’s esteem for his choice of mattress.

“Why? What did you say to Seungmin?” Jisung asked, intrigued.

Felix shook his head again. “Just don’t tease them.” He didn’t want to share any more than was necessary but at the same time he knew Jisung was naturally curious to a dangerous degree. He had to give him something. “It might break their friendship.”

“Oh,” Jisung said quietly, sitting next to Felix. “I thought they were getting closer.”

“It is those closest to you that can hurt you the most,” Minho said somberly in a rare show of the wisdom his age bestowed him with. He picked up the half empty bucket and left the room to empty it. There was a damp patch on the floor where the trio had sat.

“Have I ever hurt you, Lixie?” Jisung asked in a small voice.

“Of course,” Felix replied, taking Jisung’s hand. “You’ve made me happy and sad and angry and scared and surprised. You’ve made me feel lots of emotions.”

Jisung wasn't comforted by that answer so Felix felt it was his duty as not-quite-best friend to cheer him up. “You make me happy when you do funny impressions of the customers and you make me sad when you think you’re not good enough to be a witch. You make me angry when you call me Yongbok-”

“Yongbok is your name though,” Jisung argued. “You can’t get angry about your name.”

“And I get _angrier_ when you say that Yongbok is my name when it’s not,” Felix said, pushing Jisung over. He bounced up again startling quickly and pushed Felix back.

“It means ‘Lucky’,” Jisung said, standing up on the bed to prevent Felix from pushing him down again. “Which is _exactly_ the same meaning as your name in English and you don’t even _have_ a name in Fae so how can you claim Yongbok is not your name?”

Felix had stood up too now and they were bouncing to try and stay above one another. The bed was coping very well with the strain, not creaking in the slightest and the mattress was propelling them so high Felix could almost imagine he was flying for a moment.

“Because Yongbok isn’t my name!” Felix argued. “I was called Felix first so Felix is my name.”

Minho returned with a towel for the damp patch on the floor and sighed as he saw them shoving each other. “I left for one minute.”

“Tell Jisung that Yongbok is not my name!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh would you look at the angst


	33. Just a wolf

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> boundaries? they dont know her

Hyunjin was smiling when he came back from the shop and Felix was even convinced that it was his real smile this time.

"We found the _best_ covers," he said excitedly. "Binnie-hyung, show them, show them!"

Changbin rusted through the bag he was carrying. "Close your eyes please," he said dramatically.

"This better be good," Minho muttered.

Felix heard the rip of a plastic package being opened and Hyunjin's giggles as they unfolded the fabric.

"Open!" Hyunjin called.

The covers were mostly black which would appeal to Chan and his boring dark wardrobe. There were also white specks against the darkest section at the top and a large white circle. Felix couldn't work out what was so special about it until Hyunjin lifted the sheet out if Changbin's hands and held it above his head. Well, that would certainly appeal to Chan's tastes too.

"Is that a werewolf?" Seungmin asked, unamused.

"I think it's just a regular wolf," Changbin said, his voice projecting from behind the fabric as if the wolf was speaking. "Still funny though."

"You have spent my money well," Minho said as Changbin handed back his card and receipt. "Woojinnie-hyung is going to hate it."

"I hate it," Woojin said as soon as he saw the bedding.

"Huh?" Chan asked, his voice muffled as he had face planted on the bed immediately after entering the room.

“Where did you even find that?” Woojin asked, ignoring his boyfriend. “I certainly didn’t buy it.”

“The corner store,” Hyunjin said proudly and Woojin pulled a face.

“Do they take returns?” he asked.

“Not if you don’t have a receipt,” Changbin smirked. They had a receipt but Woojin didn’t need to know that.

Woojin sighed. “Sungie? Fancy setting fire to it for me?”

“Nope!” Jisung snuggled closer to Felix and shut his eyes.

“What’s so bad?” Chan asked, picking up his head. He looked blearily towards Felix and co at the headboard. “Space?” he said in happy confusion, spotting the stars and recognising the moon far faster than Felix had. Then again, he was an astronomy nerd.

“Other end, love,” Woojin said.

Felix wondered if the pet name had been intentional. They normally stuck to standard nicknames and ‘babe’ on occasion around the kids. He hoped it was a sign that things were better between them since Chan had also ‘slipped up’ with the delivery driver this morning. Chan and Woojin shouldn’t have to hide their love, especially in their own home and though Changbin might oppose it Felix was perfectly happy with an increase in PDA.

Chan flipped over and made a pleased sound in the back of his throat as he spotted the source of Woojin’s discontentment. “A werewolf!”

“I think it’s just a wolf,” Changbin said, smoothing out the cover.

“I love it,” Chan giggled, reaching out to stroke the 2D wolf’s head. Woojin pointedly cleared his throat and Chan flopped over onto his back and held open his arms. “Aw I love you more babe,” Chan cooed. “Come here.”

“Nope nope nope!” Jisung said, scrambling out of the way as Woojin leaned down to give Chan a kiss and Chan’s foot came up to hook around Woojin’s hip. Jisung pushed Hyunjin and they tumbled out of bed before running for the door. At the other end of the bed Changbin had vaulted over the footboard as if physically repelled. Felix’s foot was trapped under Chan and he was quickly left to his fate as the other kids all abandoned their spots on the bed. Thankfully, Jeongin delayed his own escape to pull him free.

Either Chan and Woojin were resolutely ignoring the panic they were causing or they genuinely didn’t care. Their kiss hadn’t gone much further than many kisses Felix had seen from them around the house besides being horizontal but Felix had a feeling they weren’t going to pull away any time soon.

“ _Minho-hyung_ ,” Changbin called back in horror as he went to close the door and realised they hadn't all escaped.

“I’m comfy,” Minho protested, leaning back against the footboard. Unlike the rest of them, he hadn’t moved an inch. “It’s not like they’re my parents.”

“Would you like to be officially adopted?” Chan asked, gasping slightly as Woojin kissed up his neck. Changbin’s face morphed in horror and Felix saved him by pushing him into the corridor away from the scene. He hurried up stairs after the others but Felix hung back, Fae curiosity winning over.

“I didn’t want it to seem like I didn’t respect your independence,” Chan explained badly to Minho, lying boneless across his new bed, Woojin straddling his waist. “I do consider you family though,” Chan said, “just not quite one of the kids.”

Felix thought this was an odd time to have this conversation. Chan’s focus wasn’t exactly on Minho despite the gravity of his words but Minho didn’t seem to mind. Perhaps, like Felix, he’d grown up with so much PDA that it didn’t register as something to be shy of.

“Are you offering to be my daddy, Channie-hyung?” Minho asked coyly and Woojin pulled off Chan’s neck to literally growl at Minho. Minho held up his hands with a laugh. “Ok, ok! I’m not coming for your mans. Chill, Hyung.”

“You better not,” Woojin said with narrowed eyes. “You should go before Sungie’s overactive brain gets the wrong idea.”

Minho rolled his eyes. “I’m not trying to get with Sungie. He’s still a kid.”

“A kid you have feelings for,” Chan said knowingly.

“I can wait until he’s older,” Minho said, not denying it. “I have self-control. Unlike _some people._ ” He stared pointedly at the pair of them, pressed together from head to toe.

Woojin shrugged. “My house, my bed, my boyfriend. Stay or don’t but I’m not moving.”

“Are you going to christen your new bed then?” Minho asked casually, hopping off the bed. He spotted Felix at the door and froze for a second before sticking out his tongue.

“Honestly, I just want a nap,” Woojin said. He looked to Chan for his opinion.

“Sounds good,” Chan agreed. “Half an hour of peace.”

“In this house?” Minho scoffed as Woojin rolled off of Chan and crawled under the duvet.

Woojin faced the door and spotted Felix as he yawned. Felix waved and Woojin shook a sweater paw back at him. Now he had allowed himself to relax he looked exhausted and Felix was reminded that Chan had said Woojin wasn’t getting REM sleep lately being so stressed over his mother’s letter. And that was before they knew about a rogue vampire lurking the streets.

“Sleep well, Hyungie,” Felix said as Minho collected Changbin’s forgotten phone and shut the blinds. Chan shuffled into bed behind Woojin and Minho pulled the duvet into place over them.

“There’s so much space,” Chan said in awe. Felix watched the lumps under the duvet move as Chan stretched his legs out and wriggled about.

“Channieeee” Woojin whined with his eyes closed. Chan stilled.

“Sorry, babe.”

“Hug me,” Woojin demanded and despite the spacious bed they both curled into a tiny space no bigger than their bed upstairs.

“I’m only promising you half an hour,” Minho warned them as he turned off the light.

“I love you, Min,” Chan called out quietly.

“Yeah, I love you idiots too, Hyung,” Minho replied dryly and closed the door.

“Not a word to Jisungie,” Minho said sternly to Felix as soon as the door was shut.

“He thinks you’ve friend-zoned him,” Felix said unhappily. Couldn’t Minho see he was just making Jisung sad and insecure?

“Good,” Minho replied. “I have. And not a word to Seungminnie either. This is a proper secret, Lixie. No selling it or giving it away.”

“Fine,” Felix agreed reluctantly. He didn’t have much choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if youre enjoying this fic go check out the one i wrote yesterday if you havent already. its >3k hyunjins pov uni/college humour about a haunted spotify playlist. thanks
> 
> \---  
> it seems im cycling through the ships to give them all a sprinkling of angst in this fic. i swear its not intentional. well.. woochan was intentional and inminjin. but minsung wasnt! im nearly done with this fic now. theres just one more scene i want to do. lets see if i can get to it in the next chapter


	34. Get your guard dog to step down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im supposed to be wrapping this up. This scene wasn't even supposed to happen in this fic! but uh tada?

The kids had collectively agreed to be quiet and _sensible_ while the Dads were resting which proved to be more of a challenge than it should have been. Felix was a model citizen. He curled up on the couch next to Changbin, talking quietly about prospective date locations. Jisung was also uncharacteristically unproblematic. He’d disappeared into his room to watch videos before Felix was even upstairs. Minho went the opposite direction to the dining room without a word. Strangely, it was the school-goers that were causing problems.

Jeongin had shifted into his fox form, which wasn’t unusual, but he wouldn’t leave Seungmin’s side, which was. Normally Seungmin would mess with him by tickling him or pushing his fur the wrong way and Jeongin would dart away for a while until he was bored and came back to Seungmin’s side. And if Jeongin got distracted elsewhere Seungmin would seek him out until Jeongin growled enough to get him to leave. It was a predictable pattern.

But now Seungmin sat reading on the other end of the couch from Felix and Chagnbin with Jeongin in his lap. Seungmin paid Jeongin no attention besides idly stroking the fur on the top of his head and Jeongin sat quietly. Quietly until Hyunjin approached at which point he started barking.

“What is it?” Hyunjin asked tetchily as he tried to sit on the couch. Jeongin only barked again. “I just want to sit down, Innie.” Jeongin bared his teeth and Hyunjin held up his hands.

 _“Calm down, Innie,”_ Felix said in Fae, hoping the magical language would relieve some of the unwarranted aggression. Jeongin fixed his stare on Felix. “Ok,” Felix placated. “Do you want to shift back and talk about it?”

That suggestion was also denied. Hyunjin stood helplessly in the middle of the room and looked to Changbin for help. He was the most senior of them and had also known Jeongin the longest. Changbin shrugged.

 _“Minnie,_ ” Felix tried. _“Can you get your guard dog to step down?”_

Seungmin slipped his finger into his book to mark his page and looked up. “What?”

“Innie’s trying to fight everyone,” Felix explained.

“Oh,” Seungmin looked down at his lap and stroked back Jeongin’s ears. “Why are you barking, Innie?” he asked. It wasn’t a question they would get an answer too unless Woojin was here to translate but the attention seemed to calm Jeongin slightly.

“He won’t let me sit down,” Hyunjin said sadly.

“That’s weird,” Seungmin said. “Maybe you smell of something he doesn’t like?”

“He didn’t want me closer either,” Felix pointed out and I’ve been sitting here the whole time.”

Seungmin frowned and turned Jeongin’s face up to look him in the eyes. “Why are you being prickly? Is it because of earlier? I told you, I’m fine.”

“What happened earlier?” Hyunjin asked, taking a step forward and then immediately backing away as Jeongin turned aggressively towards him.

Changbin also wanted to know. He squeezed Felix’s hand twice and raised an eyebrow.

“It was nothing,” Felix said dismissively. “After you two left for the shops I teased Minnie about something but we’re fine now.”

"I _told you_ to stop," Changbin whispered in his ear.

"It wasn't me that caused this," Felix whispered back. Changbin squeezed his waist to show he didn't believe him but left the topic alone for now.

Felix actually had a suspicion that whatever Jeongin’s problem was had to do with what had been said upstairs after they had left to get changed. Jeongin hasn't really left Seungmin's side since then and it just so happened that Hyunjin had been at the other end of the bed when they all cuddled in the bed to test it's quality. This was the closest Hyunjin had gotten to Seungmin since his hurried departure earlier to get the bedding. Felix had been closer but not since Jeongin shifted and shifting tended to simplicity emotions for both Jeongin and Woojin so he wouldn't be surprised if Jeongin was harbouring resentment from their argument earlier that was only surfacing now.

"Let Jinnie sit down," Seungmin ordered Jeongin. "He's done nothing wrong."

Jeongin growled but lay back down. Hyunjin approached the couch hesitantly and sat down tensely.

"I'm sorry?" Hyunjin said quietly.

"Who are you saying sorry to?" Seungmin asked, keeping one hand pushing down on Jeongin's back to dissuade him from moving.

"Both of you?" Hyunjin guessed. "Innie seems to think I've done something."

"You're fine," Seungmin said, putting his hand reassuringly Hyunjin's leg. Hyunjin was bouncing it like crazy and Felix wouldn't be surprised if he shifted by accident.

Hyunjin wasn't convinced by Seungmin's 'truth'. He held out his hand, palm up, to Jeongin in submission. "I'm sorry for whatever I did, Innie," he said.

Jeongin snapped his jaws next to Hyunjin's hand, a trick he'd learnt from Woojin. Hyunjin immediately pulled his hand back and Seungmin grabbed Jeongin's snout to muzzle him.

"Shift back right now," Seungmin ordered. " Jeongin wriggled to get free but Seungmin had him pinned down. "Right now!"

"It's fine!" Hyunjin protested. "I can go."

"It's not fine," Seungmin said. "He's being a dick and he shouldn't get away with it just because he's shifted."

"We should leave," Changbin murmured in Felix's ear. Felix ignored the push on his back and stopped Changbin with a hand on his thigh.

"We might need to break up a fight," Felix replied, keeping his eyes on the others. By 'we' he meant that he would. Changbin was good at calming people down but he had no idea how to throw a punch, let alone block one.

They watched as Jeongin shifted back, his legs getting bent at odd angles as they grew. He moved off of Seungmin's lap to sit on the am of the couch with his legs drawn up to protect himself. He looked angry and vulnerable, still liable to snap at anybody that got too close.

"I'm sorry Innie," Hyunjin repeated. "What did I do?"

Jeongin's lips went white as he pursed them, debating whether or not to speak.

"You were being all… _flirty_ with Seungminnie-hyung earlier and then when Hyung mentioned it you ran away. It made Seungminnie-hyung sad and it keeps happening."

"Innie!" Seungmin choked, blush rising on his cheeks.

"I was flirting?" Hyunjin asked, genuinely confused. "Seungminnie?"

"You're just being friendly, right?" Seungmin laughed nervously. "Innie's reading it wrong."

"I am not!" Jeongin said crossly. "You look at each other the same way everyone else in this stupid family looks at someone and would you look at that!" Jeongin's voice broke and he gestured angrily across to Felix and Changbin. "It's _romantic._ "

Hyunjin stared open-mouthed and Seungmin buried his face in his hands.

"Innie," Changbin said gently. "You can't assume people's feelings."

"Yes you can," Felix countered.

"Lix, no," Changbin said firmly but Felix ignored him.

"You can all hate me when I'm done but you need to hear this."

"Felix!" Seungmin begged. "Don't."

"It's not going to get better if you keep silent now, Minnie," Felix replied. "Sometimes secrets are worse.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote the next part at the same time so that will likely be up tomorrow. its shorter, like 800 words rn but uh yeah prepare yourselves


	35. The unicycle of sadness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well those reactions were fun

"Hyunjin, Jeongin," Felix addressed the boys. It was best to get the biggest secrets out of the way first before Changbin tried to stop him. Seungmin had resigned to his fate with his head hung low. "Seungmin likes both of you, romantically. And he wants to date both of you at once. He's too scared to ask."

" _Both?_ " Jeongin said in disbelief. "But Hyunjin-hyung -"

"Both," Seungmin confirmed, not looking up as he cut off Jeongin’s panicked outburst. "I'm sorry."

"Oh," Jeongin said, his voice small. He stared past Felix at the wall, deep in thought. His hands were leaving white marks on his shins as he held them tightly and and the hairs on his arms were standing up. He’d be cold soon if he didn’t go and put on some clothes.

Hyunjin sat frozen in place too until Seungmin’s breath caught ever so slightly on an inhale and then his head whipped around to look at the boy sitting at his side.

"Seungminnie, are you crying?" Hyunjin asked gently, leaning down to try and see Seungmin's hidden face. Jeongin jerked out of his daze at that and nearly fell off the couch but caught himself at the last minute.

 _"No,"_ Seungmin denied waterly but he had nowhere to hide with a crush on either side of him.

Hyunjin tilted Seungmin's head up. "How are you lying, Minnie? I can see the tears."

"Before they leave your eyes it's not crying," Seungmin said petulantly but by now there were tracks all down his cheeks. Hyunjin brushed the tears away carefully with the cuff of his sweater.

“You’ve got to stop thinking so hard for ways to lie,” Hyunjin said. “You’re just making everything difficult.”

“I’m not the one who flirts by accident,” Seungmin grumbled, scrubbing at his eyes. “No wonder so many people follow you around at school.”

“Do I really flirt with everyone?” Hyunjin asked worriedly. “Innie? Do I?”

“No,” Jeongin admitted grudgingly, digging white lines into his skin with his finger nail. “You just have a pretty face and a nice smile and a really cute laugh so when you talk to people they get mesmerized.”

Seungmin huffed out a laugh and looked up at the boy crouched defensively above him. “You too, Innie?” he asked sympathetically.

“Both,” Jeongin grunted. “I thought you only liked each other.” Seungmin held open his arms and Jeongin tipped himself over into them and cuddled into Seungmin’s chest.

“It’s pretty tough, isn’t it?” Felix heard Seungmin say as he kissed Jeongin’s hair. Hyunjin somehow got even more confused and turned to Felix and Changbin for help.

“When the flame is too bright don’t shut your eyes, Jinnie,” Changbin said sagely. It was one of his strange dwarf expressions but Felix couldn’t remember what it meant. It looked like Hyunjin didn’t understand either.

“What?” Hyunjin said. He’d taken his hands away from Seungmin as Jeongin had taken over the comforting and was fiddling with the cuffs of his sweater, making sweater paws and then pushing his hands back out again. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, too used to constantly hanging off someone. Felix reckoned they were about a minute away from tentacles.

“He means ‘think about it’,” Seungmin said. Felix had no idea where he came to that conclusion from.

“Exactly!” Changbin said. Hyunjin still looked lost. Felix sighed and took pity on him and spilled the secrets that really weren’t secret anymore.

“Seungminnie likes Innie and you. Innie likes Seungminnie and you. You are closer to both of them than anybody else I’ve seen you with-”

“-and you were flashing earlier.” Changbin added. Hyunjin flushed a dark purply colour and tried to hide it behind his hands.

“Yeah, and whatever that means,” Felix continued breezily. “So now you have to work out if you like them as friends or boyfriends because I have a feeling they’re going to start dating each other pretty soon.”

“Ew, gross,” Jeongin said from where he was sitting naked, curled up against Seungmin’s chest. He lifted his head to pull a face at Seungmin.

“Guah” Seungmin said in his ear happily and Jeongin flinched, shifting back to his fox form with his ears pressed flat. Seungmin patted him until his ears returned to normal then pushed his fur backwards once and let him be. Jeongin curled up on his lap and stared Hyunjin down with his intelligent eyes.

"You don't have to have an answer yet, Jinnie," Seungmin said gently to Hyunjin. The mer boy was watching them interact with a conflicted frown. "I wasn't going to tell you yet anyway because I knew you weren't ready." Seungmin sent Felix a playful glower. He was already happier than Felix had seen him in months.

"Do you still love me?” Felix asked jokingly, thankful that at least this time his meddling hadn’t backfired.

“Yeah, I guess,” Seungmin sighed dramatically. He ran his hand through Jeongin’s short fur and scratched at his favour spot behind his ears. “Thanks.”

“ _See_ ,” Felix said proudly to Changbin. “I _helped_.”

“You were swinging your axe blindly,” Changbin said in disagreement but he kissed Felix’s smile. “No more interfering.”

“What’s he been interfering with?” Hyunjin asked. Terra, this boy was clueless.

“You lot,” Changbin said. “He’s been teasing Minnie every day about it.”

“I had no idea,” Hyunjin said.

“Oh, _we know_ ,” Felix said. It was a bit cruel but it was amazing how much Hyunjin had missed right in front of him. Hyunjin pouted and crossed his arms.

“It’s not my fault I didn’t know if nobody told me,” he grumbled. Felix estimated twenty seconds to tentacles. The information would be piling up in Hyunjin’s brain and if Hyunjin felt isolated he would shift as a mal-adapted coping mechanism. It worked well when he lived in the sewers but now it just made him even more vulnerable.

“Do you want a hug?” Changbin offered.

Hugs always made Hyunjin feel better and he crawled over to Changbin and into his lap even though he was really too tall for that to work comfortably. Changbin took his arm from around Felix’s shoulders to hug Hyunjin and Felix reluctantly pulled away from his side before he got a knee to the face. He did kind of bring this on himself.

“Fae are tricky, aren’t they?” Changbin said consolingly to Hyunjin as the mer boy hunched over to press his face into his shoulder.

“Hey!” Felix protested, feeling thoroughly put out. “When did I become the third wheel?”

“There’s nothing wrong with third wheels,” Seungmin replied. “Tricycles are very well-balanced.”

“You would think that,” Felix said scathingly. “Just you wait until I steal Innie and you’re riding the unicycle of sadness again.”

Jeongin bared his teeth and Seungmin gave Felix a satisfied smile. “I’d like to see you try.”


	36. Duct tape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that was enough angst

“This seems cozy,” Minho said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously as he came through from the dining room. “What’s been going on?”

“Seu-” Felix started and Changbin reached over to slap his hand over Felix’s mouth.

“For the love of everything shiny, Yongbok.” Changbin said. “Stop meddling or I will duct tape your mouth.”

“What’s duct tape?” Felix asked, licking Changbin’s hand to get him to pull away. Unfortunately, Changbin didn’t seem to care.

“The roll of sticky grey stuff,” Seungmin said, understanding him even muffled by Changbin’s hand. “To fix broken things.”

“I’m not broken!” Felix protested, pulling Changbin’s hand off him. Changbin wiped it on his cardigan and pulled Felix into his side. If he thought that would placate Felix he was mistaken.

“Gossip, Lixie,” Minho said, clapping his hands to emphasize his point. “Serve up.”

Seungmin readied his hand palm up and silently challenged Felix.

“Sorry, Hyung,” Felix apologised. “I’m not allowed.”

“Not allowed, huh?” Minho said, crossing his arms and watching them closely. “So it’s Minnie’s secret and Changbin thinks you’ve been meddling which means it’s about earlier.” Felix stared wide-eyed as Minho picked them apart. How he got that with so little information- Felix had no idea. And Minho wasn’t done. “Binnie is hugging Hyunjinnie which means Jinnie got upset and it was related to Minnie and Innie since he’s not hugging either of them.”

“How are you doing this,” Seungmin breathed out.

Minho pointed at him and grinned widely. “And that tells me my guesses have been right.”

 _“Fuck.”_ Seungmin cursed and bit his lip.

“Sooo,” Minho looked closely at them. “Yongbok couldn’t keep a secret, huh?” Felix felt dread shiver down his back at Minho’s predatory tone. “That better be the last secret you’re spilling, Felix.”

“Yes,” Felix said meekly, remembering his promise on the stairs. There was no way he was going to manage to keep that from Jisung. He told Jisung practically everything.

“What secret does he have of yours?” Seungmin asked eagerly.

“If I told you it wouldn’t be a secret then, would it?” Minho replied sassily. “Binnie, where’s the duct tape?”

“I can keep a secret!” Felix protested.

“No you can’t,” everyone in the room chorused.

“Sunshine, you told four people we’d kissed within like ten minutes of us being home.” Changbin pointed out. He shifted Hyunjin onto Felix and got up, presumably to find duct tape.

That was an unfair example. Was Felix just expected to _not_ tell Woojin? That man could smell fear. And Seungmin already knew something was up and when Seungmin was onto him Felix was terrible at hiding it from him. _Oh._

“Minho-hyung, I’m going to spill your secret,” Felix said with dread.

Minho sighed as if he expected this to happen. “Just _don’t,_ Lix.” he pleaded. “It’s really easy. Just don’t say anything.”

Felix could already feel the words sitting heavily in his mouth waiting to tumble free. It’s not like it was even that big a secret that Minho liked Jisung. Everyone could see it- apart from Jisung. If he could just tell a couple of people then the urge to tell Jisung would be less. Seungmin was great at keeping secrets. He could tell Seungmin, that would help.

“Minnie, don’t look at him,” Minho ordered. “He’s weak.”

“Why did you tell him then?” Seungmin said teasingly.

“I didn’t,” Minho sighed. “Channie-hyung worked it out and mentioned it while he was in the room. Believe me, I wouldn’t tell Lix on purpose.”

Seungmin’s eyes lit up. “This happened just before you came upstairs.”

“Will you all stop playing mind games,” Changbin said as he came back into the room with a grey roll of duct tape. “There’s going to be no secrets and no friendships left at this rate.”

“It’s the fae blood,” Hyunjin said with a rye smile, pinching Felix’s cheeks. “They’re incapable of minding their own business.”

“I’m going to make them incapable of something,” Changbin vowed.

***

“Do I want to know?” Chan asked, having appeared of his own volition after 45 minutes of peace. It’s not like Minho or Felix could tell the others they had said they’d back down in half an hour.

“They were spilling everyone’s secrets,” Hyunjin said. “It was for the best.”

“You mean Felix was spilling everyone’s secrets.” Woojin said. Felix threw his arms in the air dramatically since he couldn’t defend himself verbally. This was unfair.

He, Seungmin and Minho had been sat in a line with their mouths duct taped closed. Seungmin also had his hands duct taped for trying to escape and Jeongin had had a lot of fun with it. Minho had initially appeared to be compliant but he kept eating his way free. (Not swallowing it, thank the trees. But still, he managed to unstick the glue with his tongue worryingly quickly.)

Jisung had wandered through after six failed attempts by Hyunjin and helped by sticking a piece of tape vertically from Minho’s neck to his forehead. He didn’t even question what it was for but it had been very effective as Minho couldn’t bite the tape in that direction. Felix wondered if Jisung had prior experience to reach that solution so quickly. And if so, was that experience as a captor or a captive?

“Lix was spilling secrets and Minho-hyung and Minnie were stealing each others,” Jeongin said. “It was quite fun to watch but Binnie-hyung said we had to stop them.”

“Which secrets?” Chan asked.

 _“Hyung,”_ Changbin said exasperatedly. “You’re supposed to help me not them.”

“Apparently, you know Minho-hyung’s secret from when he and Lix were last to come upstairs,” Jeongin said, not getting the memo about keeping information to yourself. “And Minnie’s one, uh. You don’t know that, I think? Or maybe you do?” Seungmin kicked him harshly. “I will be shutting up now,” Jeongin said hurriedly.

“Oh no, I know that one too,” Chan said with a smile. “I wasn’t aware you’d been informed.”

“It’s been a recent development,” Hyunjin muttered.

“I see why Lix is duct taped now,” Chan said. “He knows too much.”

“So do you,” Woojin said, clamping his hand over Chan’s mouth. “Got any more duct tape, Bin?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw since its relevant I recommend Duct Tape Heart by Barenaked Ladies. 
> 
> 'fixed the fender on the rover that was left on the moon- its good enough for you' i imagine this is Changbin's philosophy here


	37. Kiss it better

It was a little foolish of the humans to think that they couldn’t gossip without words. Felix had tried to keep Minho’s secret, he really had. And technically, if you think about it he didn’t _tell_ Seungmin so he kept his promise to Minho. It wasn’t his fault that Minho was so painfully obvious with his heart eyes to Jisung as he taught Jeongin how to make a duct tape rose that Felix’s eyes had rolled backwards into his head to avoid looking at the scene. Seungmin had been watching like a hawk for Felix to slip up and it was possible that he had misread Felix’s body language but really how hard was it to misread an eye roll? Seungmin’s eyes widened slightly in understanding and he held out his duct taped fist to Felix for him to set him free.

“No,” Changbin said firmly. “You’re staying taped until dinner arrives or you start being nice to each other again.”

“MmmMmmMmmMmmmMmM!” Seungmin replied, holding his fist out to Changbin.

“You are going to be nice?” Changbin asked. Seungmin nodded eagerly and Changbin started letting him free like a fool.

“Hey hey hey!” Hyunjin said, pulling Changbin’s arm away. “That wasn’t specific enough. Innie, come help.”

“Help what?” Jeongin asked, so obviously excited that Hyunjin had spoken to him.

“Help me make a deal to free Minnie,” Hyunjin said, not quite meeting his eyes. “If we’re too vague he’ll get around it.”

“He’ll get around it anyway,” Jeongin said pessimistically. “With his weird conditional thinking or something.”

“Mmm!” Seungmin said, which really could have meant anything.

“Ok ok,” Jeongin placated him. “If we undo the duct tape that is binding you right now will you promise to not attempt in any way to get information out of someone that they do not want you to know, for the next 48 hours?” he asked. “Hyunjinnie-hyung, did that cover everything?”

“Or get that information out of anybody else that may know it. And should you gain any such information without consent you are not to act on it,” Hyunjin added. Seungmin rolled his eyes dramatically but nodded and held out his hands.

“Should I be worried by how specific that was?” Woojin asked. He and Chan were also learning how to make duct tape flowers from Jisung and there were pieces of tape everywhere.

 _Yes_ , Felix thought. _You should always be worried when Seungmin wants information._ That last clause Hyunjin added might just save them since Seungmin already had the information he wanted but knowing Seungmin he would find a way around it if he really wanted.

“You should be worried about how specific it wasn’t,” Jeongin said, carefully peeling back the tape on Seungmin’s hand. “Honestly, if Minnie-hyung wanted to destroy us he could.” He sounded proud and Felix could understand. He was endlessly grateful that Seungmin also considered him a friend and chose to mentally break other people instead of him.

“Comforting,” Woojin said sarcastically, sticking some tape to Jisung’s hair without him noticing. “Are we letting them all free now? I was kind of enjoying the quiet.”

“Felix-hyung already gave his secret away, so I don't see why not” Jeongin said and pulled the tape away off Seungmin’s mouth in one sharp motion.

“ _Ah you badger”_ Seungmin cursed, bringing a hand up to his mouth.

"Language!" Woojin called tiredly.

Fae!" Minho said, just to be a pain. He had a red mark down the middle of his face from where he'd pulled off the tape but he didn’t seem bothered by it.

 _“Need kiss me better?”_ Jeongin asked Seungmin with a smirk, inches away from his face. Chan choked on air (an impressive feat considering his mouth was taped shut and technically he didn’t need to breathe) and Jisung fell off the end of the couch, limbs flailing.

“Is it happening?” Jisung asked excitedly as he scrambled to stand back up. “Ohmygod!”

Seungmin shoved Jeongin forcefully away and the boy stumbled backward to land harmlessly in Chan’s lap. He grinned up at Seungmin, pleased with his reaction. They had a weird friendship and it was turning into a weird relationship.

“Seungminnie!!” Jisung wailed. “That’s not how it’s supposed to go!”

“You watch too many dramas,” Seungmin told him, taking the last of the duct tape off his hands. Felix guessed that he was also free to speak again and took the tape off his own mouth. The glue had warmed on his skin so it didn’t hurt and just left some residue around his mouth. He scrubbed at it with the sleeve of his cardigan but all that did was add fluff to it, giving him a beard.

“I watch enough dramas to know that that’s when you’re supposed to kiss him senseless,” Jisung retorted.

“Not when the rest of you are watching,” Seungmin said, pulling a face. It did little to hide the fact that his ears were going white with embarrassment.

“Wait. Hold up. Actually? Wait, no. Hold up. _Really?_ Wait. What? Wait.” Jisung appeared to have acquired a glitch from that information. Seungmin took pity on him eventually.

“Lix told Innie I like him.” He conveniently left out Hyunjin but that was perhaps for the best. Hyunjin really didn’t seem ready to face the revelation. “It's mutual. That was my secret by the way, Minho-hyung,” he added casually.

“I’d worked that out,” Minho said. Unfortunately, Felix couldn’t tell if he was lying. “I take it you worked out mine?”

“Yeah,” Seungmin said. “Some of it. Truce?” He held out a hand in offering.

“Eww, don’t be human,” Minho said and with his pinky folded pressed three fingerd to his lips. Seungmin copied him. It was an even more uncommon gesture than the last Minho had shown knowledge off. “And yes, Lixie. You can use that one too,” he said after the truce with Seungmin was made.

“So the duct tape did nothing?” Changbin asked dejectedly.

“Sorry, Binnie-hyung,” Felix said. “I would have told you it wouldn’t but-”

“-I duct taped you, yeah.” Changbin sighed. He slumped onto the couch and cuddled into Felix's side. “At least you didn’t start a war.”

"But he _did_ start getting my children to confess to each other," Chan said grumpily. "I'm not sure how I feel about that." He hugged Jeongin tight to his chest and Jeongin tried fitfully to pull his arm off.

"Would you rather I start dating a stranger?" Jeongin asked exasperatedly. Everyone in the room frowned at that. Jeongin was their baby, no way were they trusting a stranger with him.

"No!" Chan hugged him tighter. "I'd rather you never dated at all."

"Yeah, not happening," Jeongin said, reaching out grabby hands for Woojin to free him. Woojin carefully extracted him from his boyfriend's grip and Chan latched onto the werewolf instead.

"Jinnie, they're growing up," Chan whined as Jeongin crawled back to Jisung's side to finish his rose.

"Kids do that," Woojin said unhelpfully. "When they all move out you can get a kitten or something," he suggested.

"I'm never moving out," Jisung said proudly. " _You_ can move out. I was here first.”

"Why can't we get a kitten now?" Minho asked, focused on a very different part of the sentence. "Or an older cat. There's a cat in the shelter down the road that nobody will adopt because she's got seizures."

"I'm allergic," Hyunjin said. Minho pulled a face of disgust at the audacity Hyunjin had to be born a sea creature.

"Me too!" Jisung piped up. "I nearly died!"

"Are those two statements related or was this a specific time you nearly died?" Changbin asked sassily.

"Oh, a specific time," Jisung said cheerfully. "I was petting this really cute ginger cat on the street by my grandparent's house and then my throat started closing up and I couldn't breath. And my grandad came to call me for dinner and I was like about to pass out but then he like put his hand on my neck and fixed it but we had to go to the hospital anyway so the doctor could check it."

"Sungie," Chan said gently, letting go of Woojin to sit up properly. "You know how I said that magic was inherited?"

"Yeah?" Jisung asked not looking up from his rose. Everyone else had made the connection and they were watching him closely. Jisung stuck out his tongue as he focused on adding another petal and Chan waited for Jisung's brain to catch up to the conversion. Jisung dropped the rose suddenly.

"Holy shit, my grandad is a witch!" he exclaimed, turning to Chan who nodded encouragingly. "Holy shit!" Jisung yelled again and even Woojin didn't call him out on his profanity. "I have to call my grandad!" Jisung tripped over his own feet as he ran out of the room to find his phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to say this stuff was planned but honestly my train of thought was - woochan beach moment-> kitten-> minho-> hyunjin and jisung allergic-> ofc jisung would nearly die-> how did jisung _not_ die? ->magic? sure magic will do
> 
> also each installment of this series has increased by 10k and according to that prediction the next chapter is the last one to get me to 48k. dunno if it will be the last cos i havent worked out how im justifying the last scene i want to end on but yeah that might be tomorrow if i have a stroke of inspiration


	38. Roll over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Final chapter whoop!

Jisung didn’t return by the time the food arrived and he didn’t return when Woojin went to fetch him. Jeongin started eying his portion hungrily.

“They’ve got a lot to talk about,” Woojin said, sitting back down. He passed Jeongin one of the vegetable side dishes that nobody had taken interest in and Jeongin pouted but started to eat it.

“Do you think Jisungie will want to go live with his grandfather?” Hyunjin asked quietly. “If he’s got family that’s mystic now.”

“My whole family are shifters and I don’t live with them,” Jeongin pointed out. “Busan is full of marine shifters and I couldn’t give two-” Jeongin paused and glanced up at Woojin through his eyelashes. “I have no interest in the fishing industry. Why would Jisungie-hyung want to go back to Malaysia?”

“Jisungie’s family is in _Malaysia_?” Minho asked in a horrified whisper.

“Most of them, yeah,” Chan said, patting his back. “I’m not sure which grandfather it is, but one of them is Malaysian.”

Felix was used to the impermanence of life. He’d lived numerous places in A' Choille and before coming to Korea he’d visited Australia many times through a different Gate. He’d made many friends and lost touch with most of them again with little heartbreak but the thought of Jisung leaving was different. Jisung was his t _win_ , his partner in crime, his closest human friend. Felix couldn’t imagine life here with him just _gone_.

“If Sungie does want to go live with his grandfather you are all to be happy for him, understand,” Chan said sternly as they all started picking at their food.

“Yes,” Changbin said sullenly. Everyone else stayed silent.

Nobody had moved when Jisung eventually came back and skipped over to Chan.

“Grandad wants to talk to you,” he said breathlessly, holding his phone out.

“Of course,” Chan said and brought the phone to his ear. “Good evening, Sir.”

Woojin pulled Jisung down to sit next to them and handed him the food they had saved him. Jisung ate it with fever despite the food having long gone cold and stored the food in his cheeks as he reached for more. Felix tried to preserve the image in his brain.

“So,” Seungmin says over the sound of Chan’s funny ‘phone voice’. “Is your grandfather really a witch, Sungie?”

“Kinda,” Jisung said and covers his mouth as he speaks. “He started taking an aging potion when he met my grandma and almost completely stopped doing magic, leaving the mystic world behind to be with her.”

“That’s so romantic,” Hyunjin sighed.

“I know right,” Jisung said. “Apparently none of my aunts or uncles have magic and my older cousins didn’t show any signs so he thought giving it up had stopped it getting inherited. He was really sorry for ‘abandoning me’ which is nonsense cos he’s like 98…Wait...”  
“He’s probably older than 98,” Jeongin said with just a touch more sass than necessary. Jisung had been through a lot in the last hour. Jisung grabbed his phone back from Chan.

“Grandad how old are you?” he asked without preamble. “Yeah I know but how old- Wow.” Jisung’s face went blank and Felix was willing to bet it was a big number. _Could you get ages bigger than 2000 if they messed up the counting? How would you know?_

Chan had taken the phone back and Jisung still looked kind of stunned. “He’s 2043,” Jisung said robotically. Felix whined in the back of his throat. That was exactly what he had been worried about.

“That’s bigger than the time,” he moaned to Changbin.

“I’m sure he just did the counting by himself,” Changbin assured him.

“Actually,!” Seungmin started. “Prior to the Gregorian Calendar, much of Eastern Asia used the Lunar Calendar and prior to that was the Agricultural Calendar.”

This was far worse than anything Felix could ever imagine. _The whole world wasn’t using the same counting?_ He started to feel a little light-headed.

“Stop.” Hyunjin said, putting his hand over Seungmin’s mouth. “We didn’t even learn that in class.”

“Time is interesting!” Seungmin protested. Felix _disagreed._

“Your grandad wants to say goodbye, Sungie” Chan said, interrupting them. Jisung nodded eagerly and held out his hand for the phone.

“Hi grandad!” he said and then pushed more food into his cheeks as he listened in preparation to speak. He looked like a squirrel. “Yeah, Channie-hyung is the best!”

In front of him Woojin held out his arms as if to say ‘ _do I mean nothing to you?_ ’ Jisung grinned cheekily at him but corrected his statement.

“I am obligated to state that Woojinnie is also the best and Minho-hyung, Binnie-hyung, Jinnie, Yongbok, Minnie and Innie.” He hummed as his grandad replied. “Yeah, talk to you soon, grandad. Bye!”

“What?” Jisung asked, looking up from his food to find them all staring at him. “Do I have rice on my face?”

“Sungie, are you going back to Malaysia?” Felix asked quietly.

“No.” Jisung frowned. “Why would I do that?”

“Your grandad lives there,” Hyunjin mumbled. “And he’s actually a witch so you don’t need Channie-hyung anymore.”

“You guys think I moved in with Channie-hyung because I was a witch?” Jisung asked in confusion. “Nah, I was totally in control of my magic. I stayed cos Channie-hyung was a mess.”

“He still is,” Woojin muttered.

“Lies and slander,” Chan countered. “Sungie, the first time we met you blew up a flower shop.”

“There was a _spider_ ,” Jisung said. “It crawled _up my arm_.”

***

Now they knew that Jisung wasn’t leaving them any time soon, they took the rest of the evening to bully him mercilessly for the spider incident and pretty much any other over-reaction they could think of. There were plenty to choose from and when they ran out of examples they started making new ones. By the time everyone was getting ready for bed Jisung had deployed his force field bubble and wouldn't let anybody stand behind him. It was probably for the best as the oven was one again short-circuited thanks to his magic.

"I'm sleeping in Hyungs' room," Jisung announced as Felix got changed.

"Minho-hyung?" Felix asked. Minho had how own room now and had made use of it by immediately banning everyone from entering.

"No, Channie-hyung and Woojinnie-hyung," Jisung said. "I don't trust the rest of you not to prank me in my sleep."

"I wasn't going to-" for once Felix's inability to lie actually caught him out and the words refused to be said. "It was going to be a fun prank."

"No thank you," Jisung said politely and took his pillow and his protection bubble with him.

"Where's Sung going?" Changbin asked, drying his face on the collar of his pyjama top as he entered the bedroom and narrowly missing the doorframe.

"To crash Dads' bed so we stop bullying him," Felix informed him. "And I'm going back to my bed to gossip with Minnie."

"No!" Changbin caught him by the back of his top on his way out. "No gossiping, Sunshine," he said. "Come on." Changbin grabbed his phone and marched Felix in entirely the wrong direction.

"Where are you going?" Hyunjin asked. He was standing awkwardly in the living room, likely avoiding being alone with Jeongin or Seungmin.

"To sleep in Hyungs' bed," Changbin said. Hyunjin grinned, loving that idea, and ran down the stairs in front of them.

“Do you think it’s mean to crash their bed?” Changbin wondered as they watched Hyunjin clatter into the back door at the bottom of the stairs.

“Why?” Felix asked. “They love hugs and now they have a bed big enough for more hugs.”

“But their privacy,” Changbin said, hesitantly. Felix didn’t understand. They’d had almost a whole hour of privacy earlier in the day- how much more could they want?

“Hey,” Seungmin said quietly, poking his head around the doorframe. “Have you guys seen Hyunjinnie? Jeongin is nervous it’s going to be awkward sharing a room with him tonight.”

“He’s in Hyungs’ room,” Felix told him. “So is Sung and we’re going too.”

Seungmin smiled. “Nice, I’ll go get Innie.”

“I suppose this means we should tell Minho-hyung?” Changbin said, eyeing the closed door across the hallway.

***

“Oh great,” Chan said sarcastically as they arrived. “Full house.” He had Jisung stuck to his chest and Jeongin under his arm. Seungmin had taken the spot behind Jeongin and Hyunjin was at Chan’s other side, smothering Woojin.

“I can leave again,” MInho suggested and Felix grabbed his hand tight.

“You will do no such thing,” Woojin said firmly. “Get in the middle.”

“Two limbs Lixie,” Changbin warned as they all settled into the bed.

It was more than a tight squeeze. Realistically the bed could hold five people across its width. With Chan having Jisung and Jeongin pretty much on top of him and Hyunjin using Woojin as his own personal teddy bear that took them down to six bodies lined up. Felix hooked a leg over Changbin to anchor him to the mattress and had Woojin’s arm under his head and Hyunjin’s leg over his own.

“You need three limbs to hold you on the bed,” Felix told Changbin happily, hugging his boyfriend tightly.

“Can someone roll over?” Changbin asked, trying to wriggle backwards into Felix but there was nowhere for him to go. Felix himself was pressed up against Woojin head to toe.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Minho said confidently and suddenly there was a pressure at Felix’s back and a squeal from Hyunjin. Felix lost his grip on Changbin.

“Who was that?” Chan asked, unable to get up and check the source of the heavy thud that echoed in the quiet.

“Me,” Changbin grumbled. “I’m going to stay on the floor. It’s cooler.” His hand snaked up and stole a pillow. "Nobody stand on me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I now require votes for either Hyunjin origin story or BLINK -182 (which there is currently a preview for)
> 
> I have like 3 weeks left of uni so chapters will only happen when i really cant get a plot out of my head but I'm not going to pretend that I'm going to do a hiatus cos it won't happen.
> 
> You are of course allowed to vote for other stories in this universe you would like to see such as which character you want more of or a particular thing I've mentioned you're interested in, let me know and it might happen in the future
> 
> Thanks for reading!!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * A [Restricted Work] by [charons_boat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/charons_boat/pseuds/charons_boat) Log in to view. 




End file.
